MLP Heads Down Under
Major League Pickleball Australia returns with eight franchises, four events and a season packed with familiar names and emerging talent
By Jacob Burton • September 23, 2026 • 8 min read
The season is underway
WITH THE MLP season wrapping up last month in America, attention now turns to the land Down Under, where MLP Australia’s season began September 18–20. MLP Australia was founded in September of 2023, so it is heading into its fourth season. There are eight franchises, each with a team in three divisions: Premier, DUPR 22 and Champions (50+). MLP Australia is smaller than its American counterpart, as it started a few years after. The MLP in the U.S. consists of 20 teams.
Looking Ahead at a Big Season
While MLP in America held 13 events during its 2026 season, MLP Australia holds only four, but the schedule features some major stops. The season started this past weekend in Melbourne from September 18–20. This event was held at Raya Pickleball Club in Cheltenham, Melbourne, an indoor club in the southeastern city. They will then move north along the east coast to Brisbane for the second event from October 9–11. The venue for this event has yet to be announced.
They’ll then head just south of Brisbane to the Gold Coast for the third event from November 20–22, where the venue has also yet to be announced. Finally, they’ll head to Sydney for the finals on November 27–29. This venue has also yet to be announced, but similar events have been held in Central Pick or House of Pickle, so keep an eye out for these venue announcements.
Eight Powerful Franchises
A key difference between MLP Australia and its counterpart in the U.S. is that the teams consist of only four players in Australia, instead of six. This requires a different strategy during events, as the rules are still the same universally, but they have no subs available until the mixed doubles games. There is one game of women’s and men’s doubles each, and then two mixed doubles games, with the singles DreamBreaker if necessary.
Each of the eight teams is led by a captain, and then their teams are assembled through the draft for the final three members of their team. The draft followed a snake format, meaning the order reversed every round, so the team that picked last picked first the following round, and vice versa. The teams are the Brisbane Breakers, Sydney Smash, Northern Crocs, Gold Coast Glory, Pacific Flame, The Coasters, Melbourne Thunder and Bondi Pickleball Club. The most recent champions were Bondi Pickleball Club, with Roos van Reek earning MVP honors.
This season, Jason Taylor is the captain of Bondi Pickleball Club. With the third overall pick in the draft, he took Katy Hart, the No. 78 ranked women’s player in the world. He then took Katie Morris, the No. 131 ranked women’s player, with the 14th overall pick, before taking Ethan Chung with the 23rd overall pick.
The Brisbane Breakers are led and captained by No. 35 ranked men’s player Joey Wild, who took Harrison Brown with the first overall pick in the draft. He then took Brittany Yang with the 16th overall pick and rounded out his team with Kat Valos at the 21st overall pick.
The Sydney Smash are captained by No. 44 ranked men’s player Mitchell Hargreaves. The Smash held the eighth and ninth overall picks in the draft, selecting Joey Farias and Kat Westbury, the No. 135 ranked women’s player. Finally, they took Shannon Spencer with the 20th overall pick.
Next are the Northern Crocs, who are captained by No. 42 women’s player Andie Dikosavljevic, and they held the seventh pick. With that pick, she took 38-year-old Talia Saunders, who is ranked No. 115 for women’s players. She then took No. 145 men’s player Prycen Haas at pick 10, and No. 167 Dan Fogl-Kulich at pick 19.
The Gold Coast Glory are captained by No. 61 women’s player Sarah Burr, and she was able to add No. 58 ranked women’s player Jamie Haas with the fourth overall pick in the draft. She then took Vish Masaand with the 13th overall pick, before rounding her team out with Liam Jesperson with the 24th overall pick.
The Pacific Flame may have an argument for having one of the best players in the league. No. 17 ranked women’s player Sahra Dennehy is their captain, and with the second overall pick, she was able to acquire Lucas Pascoe, the No. 37 ranked men’s player. She then drafted Bee Massih with the 15th overall pick, and No. 106 ranked Nic Maleganeas with the 22nd overall pick.
The Coasters are captained by Danni-Elle Townsend, the No. 21 ranked women’s player. She took No. 225 men’s player Ryan Henry with the fifth overall pick. She then drafted Roman Esteraja at 12th overall, before taking the No. 120 ranked women’s player Tayah Cross at 17th overall.
Finally, leading the Melbourne Thunder this season is No. 65 ranked men’s player Zachary Grabovic. He was able to add a key player to his team at sixth overall, taking No. 45 ranked Tom Protzek. He then drafted Bee Horsley 11th overall, who is No. 151 for women’s players, before wrapping up his draft with Aria Henare, the No. 201 ranked women’s player, at pick 18.
The Coasters Take the First Weekend
The first match of the MLP Australia season kicked off with The Coasters facing off against the defending champions, Bondi Pickleball Club, and The Coasters took the series 3–1. The Brisbane Breakers then took the second match of the day against the Sydney Smash 3–1 as well. The third match provided the first DreamBreaker of the season, with the Northern Crocs defeating the Pacific Flame 3–2. The next match was quite the opposite, with the Melbourne Thunder dominating the Gold Coast Glory 4–0, but then the Thunder lost their next match to the Sydney Smash 3–1.
On day two, the Gold Coast Glory continued to struggle, losing to the Brisbane Breakers 4–0. The Pacific Flame found themselves on the unfortunate end of another DreamBreaker, losing 3–2 to Bondi Pickleball Club. The Northern Crocs continued to win, defeating The Coasters 3–1. Then the Sydney Smash piled on another loss to the Gold Coast Glory 3–1, before the Brisbane Breakers added another win, knocking down the Melbourne Thunder 3–1. Bad luck continued for the Pacific Flame, as they lost another DreamBreaker against The Coasters 3–2, then the Northern Crocs dominated Bondi Pickleball Club 4–0 for the last match of the group stage.
On Sunday, the quarterfinals saw the Melbourne Thunder face off against The Coasters and Sydney Smash facing Bondi Pickleball Club, while the Brisbane Breakers and Northern Crocs had an automatic bid into the semifinals. The Coasters breezed through into the semifinals, defeating the Thunder 3–1, as did Bondi Pickleball Club, winning 3–1 as well. The bye did not prove helpful for the Brisbane Breakers, as The Coasters defeated them in a DreamBreaker 3–2, but it worked for the Crocs, as they defeated Bondi Pickleball Club 3–1. At 3 p.m. Sunday local time, The Coasters kept on fighting through and were able to knock off the Northern Crocs to take the first weekend home.
Who Will Take It Home?
Because teams change every season through the draft and players signing with other teams and leagues, it can be difficult to predict which teams will succeed and which may unexpectedly struggle. But there were still preseason power rankings based on the ratings of the players on each team.
Those preseason power rankings had The Coasters at the top as the only team with a ranking above 22. Danni-Elle Townsend held the highest individual ranking of the captains. Following them, Sahra Dennehy and the Pacific Flame were just barely trailing, with Andie Dikosavljevic and the Northern Crocs behind them by a hair. The Brisbane Breakers and Sydney Smash trailed behind them slightly, followed by the Gold Coast Glory, rounding out all the teams whose ranking was above 21. The Melbourne Thunder followed with a ranking just under 21, and Bondi Pickleball Club rounded out the league power rankings with a 20.704 ranking.
For fans looking for more pickleball outside of the PPA Tours since the MLP in the U.S. is wrapped up, MLP Australia provides another highly skilled, fast-paced option. With some familiar names alongside plenty of newer faces for professional pickleball fans to discover, MLP Australia gives fans another season of high-level competition to follow.
About Jacob Burton
Jacob Burton is an editorial intern based in West Chester, PA. A student at West Chester University, he covers tournaments and other stories in pickleball. His work has also been featured in The Quad newspaper at West Chester University. When he isn’t writing, you can find him on the soccer field playing his childhood sport.
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