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Spirit's star Olympian confirms pregnancy
SEN • November 27th, 2025 6:11 pm
Bendigo Spirit is thrilled to confirm that Marianna Tolo is pregnant with her first child.
The three-time Olympian and her husband, Bendigo Spirit General Manager, Dan Jackson, informed the club during the early stages of the pregnancy, with Tolo sharing the news with her teammates several weeks ago.
Still confident that she could perform and contribute the team on-court, the five-time WNBL Champion – currently playing in her 12th WNBL season – has already provided fans with many memorable moments so far this season, from her buzzer-beating match-winner against Canberra in Round 4, to a 15-point, six rebound game on the road against Adelaide just last week.
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Fittingly, to conclude Round 6 – and her time on-court for the 2025-26 season – Tolo played her 250th League game against the Perth Lynx on Sunday, with her team notching a significant 29-point win, but more importantly, with Tolo receiving Life Membership of the WNBL alongside her great mate and fellow Spirit co-captain, Kelsey Griffin.
“It honestly feels like a bit of a relief right now,” Tolo said. “To get to game number 250 – alongside KG – and for us to get through with a good win...we really couldn’t have asked for much more for our milestone game.”
“Within myself, there have been a few questions over the past few weeks about ‘how many more game do I have in me’, but I’ve always made the decision knowing 100% within myself that my body has felt good, I’ve pulled up pretty well after each game, and I feel that I’m still contributing to the team.
“I’m thrilled I’ve played as much as I have this season, especially playing alongside some of the new girls to the squad like Izzy (Borlase), Meg (McConnell), Polly (Olivia Pollerd) and Kelsey (Rees)...but I know the time is right now for me to take more of an off-court role for the rest of the season.”
CEO of SEN Teams, Richard Simkiss, congratulated Tolo and Jackson on the announcement
“We are absolutely thrilled for Marianna and Dan,” Simkiss said. “We will obviously miss her on-court, but we know that Marianna contributes to this team in so much more than her on-court role, so we know we’re incredibly lucky to still have her around the club until we get to meet the newest member of the Spirit family.”
Jackson added that he and Tolo were incredibly thankful for the support they have received during what has obviously been uncertain time.
“We were very open with Simmo (Richard Simkiss) and Kennedy (head coach, Kennedy Kereama) with where things were at from the very beginning, and they and the entire organisation have been nothing but supportive in letting Tolo manage the early stages of her pregnancy in a way that worked best for her,” Jackson said. “We’re obviously very excited for this next stage for our family, but also really excited about the club culture we’re continuing to build at the Spirit, and whether she’s playing or not, Tolo will still be a big part of that.”
