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A huge thankyou to our experts, the commentators of the NBL1 Central that cast their own 3-2-1 each match of the season to help with the predictions below for the award…
Previous Decade Winners
2013 Jess Foley (Norwood Flames)
2014 Amy Lewis (Norwood Flames)
2015 Callan Taylor (Woodville Warriors)
2016 Olivia “Levicki” Thompson (Forestville)
2017 Alex Wilson (Eastern Mavericks)
2018 Chelsea Brook (Sturt Sabres)
2019 Carmen Tyson-Thomas (Eastern Mavericks)
2021 Teige Morrell (Southern Tigers)
2022 Mikayla Williams (Sturt Sabres)
2023 Mikayla Williams (Sturt Sabres)
Did you know???
In the Womens the club who has won the most Halls medals is North Adelaide with 10 followed by South Adelaide with nine and West Adelaide with eight. Out of the 10 current clubs, everyone has posted a winner with Sam Woosnam the least recent club player to win it for West Adelaide way back in 2006. The biggest multiple winner of the Halls is Vikki Kelson who has won it four times in 2000, 2001 and 2005 including a three-way tie in 1999 with Narelle Lindsay and Kristen Veal. Last year we had our first back-to-back Halls medallist in Mikayla Williams since Deanna Smith for the South Adelaide Panthers in 2003 and 2004.
The Favourites
Brooke Basham
It seems we have returned to this time last year where it’s now been 30 years since North Adelaide Women’s last Halls Medallist in Jo Hill (1994) – but Adelaide Lightning shooting guard Brooke Basham is right up there once again this year. With more of a prominent role at the Rockets minus a majority of the season Mansfield and Batish – Brooke has polled close to we think nine times with possibly some extra votes in other games in all-round performances for the Rockets. It’s going to have her somewhere between 20-30 votes for the season and right up there for the medal.
Casey Samuels
The Bendigo Spirit WNBL star has led the Lions pack up north all season and featured statistically right at the front of the queue. She has the greatest opportunity to be the club’s second ever Halls medallist behind Jess Mahony – the last time the Women’s made the finals in the league’s history. We think she’s polled nearly 15 of the 18 games but the big question will be whether these will be threes and twos in the count with teammates Tayla Levy, Lily Ritz and Jasmin Fejo possibly taking votes off her. I think she’ll be top three with this crop but the difference between winning the award and finishing just short may rely on how much impact her other team-mates were viewed to have.
Brittany Hodges
Became the focal point of the Panthers offence and consistently performed averaging a double double across the season. The key here for Hodges is games where she may have snuck a vote or two in losses the Panthers had where clearly she was one of the best still on the court. Overall we think she’s polled over ten times in games plus picked up some one voters along the way. That leaves her without too many apart from Ash Spencer to take consistent votes off her one of the very warm favourites. If she wins she’ll be the fifth winner of the award from the import class with Carmen Tyson-Thomas, Teige Morrell and Mikayla Williams – the last local was Chelsea Brook in 2018.
The Smokeys
Tayla Levy
Had an exceptional year where her value was felt most by the Lions when she wasn’t suited up. The dynamic point guard has taken a huge step forward in development and is one of the most exciting players to watch in her position in the competition. Likely to be the one to take some votes off her teammates at least eight to ten times – I don’t think you can rule her out capping a breakout year with the Halls medal around her neck by the end of the night.
Emily Saunders
There is always one player that will go largely uncontested for major votes throughout the season and this year’s version is Saunders from the Norwood Flames. Has also finished the season in a fiery fury at least polling a vote in the last five matches of the season for a total of possible nine appearances on the cards. What will hurt is the late start and that might leave her just short.
Maddy Freer
Another outstanding year for the Forestville Eagle stepping into star quality territory in 2024. Freer has been a huge part of the Eagles being a dark horse this season and is a known consistent vote getter. It looks like at least seven times she’ll poll close to three votes but there is a patch in the season where the performances of others overshadowed their contribution and might just leave them a bit short of the real contenders for 2024.
Keep An Eye on
Zoe Walker-Roberts
This is a huge compliment to a player that has been clearly the Sabres most consistent contributor in 2024. In a season where the Sabres have finished top she’s the most likely to poll consistently despite being a part of a team which from the optics looked like an even unit. ZWR has polled at least seven times but it could be more if she’s viewed with her overall contributions of receiving more votes on a regular basis.
Jordyn Freer
When the Rockets get votes if it’s not Basham then Freer won’t be to far behind. Freer out of the big name Rockets has been on court the most throughout the season and will definitely be amongst the votes. We think she’ll grab votes at least eight matches in the season but what number will be the question.
Lily Ritz
An excellent debut year for the Lions import in our league, ultra consistent and always performed her role week-in-week out. The knock for Ritz will be the two others grabbing votes off her plus Jasmin Fejo but you never know – she may have polled more three votes then we can anticipate.
The Winner is… Casey Samuels
I’m thinking given she’ll poll in 15 games – the higher chance she has more threes than we think is good numbers and that for me edges her just ahead of Basham and Hodges in a much tighter count than we’ve seen in previous seasons.
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