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THEY were great, there’s no other word for it. These Opals did us proud winning Bronze at FIBA’s World Championship for Women, redefining the meaning of “team”.

They formed the classic “all for one and one for all” with no-one rushing to hog the spotlight or deprive someone else of it; no particular ego for coach Brendan Joyce to have to stroke.

Back 25 years ago in my book “High Flyers – Women’s Basketball in Australia” then Opals manageress and long-time administrator Lorraine Landon described our 1988 Seoul Olympic team which lost the Bronze Medal playoff as the one which would go down as our greatest “team”.

A quarter of a century later, it is time to amend that, never forgetting either that in 2006 Jan Stirling steered a star-studded (and healthy) Australian team to the Gold Medal at the World Championship in Brazil.

She might have grasped another Gold two years later at Beijing’s Olympics had Penny Taylor not severely sprained her ankle in a quarter-final.

To beat the USA, you need all pistons firing and that highly anticipated Gold Medal game was another case of the Americans just having too much depth of talent, skill and athleticism.

To date, we still haven’t quite found the 40-minute game to unseat the US from its perennial pedestal but if it is going to happen at all, it will be under Joyce’s watch.

His team in Turkey was hardly star-studded, although Taylor made it back to the World Championship’s All-Star Five – a thoroughly deserved accolade – in the process redefining leadership as inclusive.

Taylor missed London two years ago during her continued debilitating – physically and morally – run with knee issues, so to see her back and so spectacular at times was richly rewarding for anyone with any sense of what an elite athlete must negotiate to stay elite.

Fellow London Olympic absentees – though through non-selection, not injury - Erin Phillips and Marianna Tolo, reinforced the pure folly of that decision with excellent championships.

Tolo’s 21 points in the Bronze Medal playoff was the Opals’ best single-game return from Taylor’s 20 in the Worlds opener against Cuba, and Phillips’ 19 in the semi final against the USA which, in fairness, was the game of the tournament and should have been its final.

Rachel Jarry’s 19 against Belarus was right up there too, her 15-of-16 free throws in that win an example and reminder to our Boomers of just how vital free throw technique is to success.

Maybe then Turkey cannot conjure two miraculous triples in the final minute to knock the Boomers out of their World Cup.

But that’s a topic for another day, these Opals giving Turkey a lesson in defensive commitment and team spirit.

With seven debutants, a new coach, nine big name players gone from London – check this list to see who and how significant they were/are: Lauren Jackson, Kristi Harrower, Suzy Batkovic, Liz Cambage, Jenna O’Hea, Jenni Screen, Kathleen MacLeod, Sam Richards, Abby Bishop – who really expected a Bronze Medal in Istanbul?

Roll in Belinda Snell, Jarry and Laura Hodges, who hardly hit the hardwood two years ago, and that London team winning Bronze was a solid performance, undone by one overtime loss to France.

Joyce’s stated goal throughout was FFS - a Final Four Success.

When Cambage went down, even that became a long shot. Except for Joyce, his coaching staff and 12 totally committed players.

“I’m very, very proud of the girls,” he said after annexing Bronze.

“We are truly a team. You hear about it, champions and teams – the unity in this team is just amazing.

“You combine it with the skill package of how we want to play offensively and defensively but that result was beyond what I could have thought, playing the host nation.

“The girls just had the fire in the belly not to let up and make sure that bronze medal was hanging around their necks.

“Something to remember for the rest of their lives and I will, it’s my proudest moment as a coach.”

As Tolo said, the 17-0 start which stuffed Turkey was something to savor, especially never allowing the crowd to get involved behind its home team.

“We silenced them right from the start,” Tolo said. “That was massive for us.

“Our focus was to not let up, the whole four quarters, 40 minutes, and we were able to do that.”

The 74-44 result was mind-boggling when put into the full context which preceded it.

Seriously now, would you back Phillips, Jarry, Taylor, Hodges, Tolo, Nat Burton, Cayla Francis, Snell, Leilani Mitchell, Rebecca Allen, Tessa Lavey and Gabe Richards against that line-up which claimed Bronze in London?

Of course you wouldn’t have, well, not BEFORE this tournament anyway.

Now you might because these Opals showed how to play for each other and their nation, arguably the most selfless performance anyone can remember, if not ever.

Whether Jackson can make it back for Rio after her recent history of injuries – or even wants to, she will be 35 by then – or Batkovic, who will be 36 ahead of Brazil’s Olympics, is debatable now.

Cambage will be available and so too O’Hea, Tess Madgen, Bishop and MacLeod, to name just a few knocking at the door.

The ultimate key though won’t be the personnel so much as the attitude.

You cannot sustain the type of defensive intensity the Opals showed for the entire tournament unless everyone has bought in.

In six games for a 5-1 record, they had seven quarters where they held opponents below double figures, forced 10 24-second shot-clock violations and at least as many again where their opponent was forced to hurl up a prayer to just beat the buzzer.

Post-championship, an emotional Phillips dedicated the Bronze Medal to missing mainstay Cambage and she wasn’t alone in mentioning what Lizzie meant to this team and program.

Joyce, experiencing a minor bout of controversy when appointed, with his lack of experience coaching women thrown up as a negative, said this then and it bears repeating.

“I don’t see sportspeople in a gender sense – they’re elite athletes trying to be the best they can be, male or female,” he said.

These Opals have bought in.

Those outside the program looking to get back in or to break in, need to get on board.

Otherwise they will be watching from home when Australia wins its next women’s Gold Medal.

OUR News Corp match and other reports today: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/marianna-tolo-stars-as-opals-hammer-turkey-to-secure-third-place-at-world-championships/story-fnii09gt-1227080979439 http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/australia-captain-penny-taylor-named-in-allstar-five-after-excellent-world-championship-form/story-fnii09gt-1227081387705