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3-Minute Read
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 Daniel Johnson (West Adelaide)
2014 Alex Starling (Woodville)
2015 Matthew Lycett (Norwood)
2016 Nelson Kirksey (Woodville)
2017 Eian Davis (South Adelaide)
2018 Alex Starling (North Adelaide)
2019 CJ Turnage (Southern)
2021 CJ Turnage (Norwood)
2022 Jeremy Smith (South Adelaide)
2022 Jawan Stepney (Woodville)
Did you know???
In the Mens the club with the most Woollacott medals won is Sturt who were also United Church prior to 1972 with 12, West Adelaide and Norwood each have 11. Out of the 10 current clubs, everyone has posted a winner with Steve Brekke the least recent club player to win it for Central District Lions way back in 1984. The biggest multiple winner of the Woollacott is “Chairman of the Boards” himself Mark Davis who has won it five times between 1986 and 1992 including a tie with former 36ers teammate Mike McKay in 1987. There have also been 14 back-to-back winners of the award with the most recent CJ Turnage in 2019 and 2021 and the first Don Collins for West Torrens in 1951.
The Favourites
Daniel Johnson (Forestville Eagles)
The 2013 winner of the award seems to get better with age and has been even more prominent this season. With the league on a bigger stage they don’t come much bigger than the NBL legendary local big man. His team have been consistently top five all season with we think DJ polling in 14 matches giving him a significant advantage over others teams. The battle is within as votes are split between five starters capable of being awarded the votes instead but it’s hard to ignore the averages of 20.8 points including scoring eleven times 20 or more this season.
Jordan Forbes (Sturt Sabres)
My pick for the medal at the start of the season got the head start on many competitors that were going to challenge this season. One of the few players that has most likely grabbed some early votes in the season but how many again is the question. Jacob Rigoni’s red hot start to the season has a lot to do with that but for Sturt to be right up the top – Forbes is a big reason why. We think he’s polled double figures for the season and not only that – perhaps those close triple doubles may earn him even more. Like DJ he has teammates that may steal votes but he’ll also be right there in the race at the very end of the count.
Alex Starling (South Adelaide Panthers)
It’s hard to believe but like DJ – Starling has just gotten even better this season. In a team that didn’t have last year’s medallist Jeremy Smith till halfway through the season – Starling going for his third accolade (2014 and 2018) will be dominating those votes all the way up till his inclusion. Even then we count 14 or 18 opportunities he’ll score votes – you just know he’ll sneak a few more in there as well and at both ends of the floor is where he’ll once again catch the eye.
The Smokeys
Greg Mays (Forestville Eagles)
Yet to win the award – one season he will finally recieve the votes he deserves and this could be the year. We think he’ll poll eleven times giving him a good chance too but DJ and teammate Uche Dibiamaka may again get in the path to the top award but history always plays a part in the top gongs as we know.
Jacob Rigoni (Sturt Sabres)
He’s gone to another level has the Adelaide 36er and a preview of what we will see in his additions to his game in NBL25. Rigoni started the season on absolute fire likely picking up votes in his first five games. That total’s somewhere between 11 to 13 times whilst also doing plenty without basketball in hand. A handy advantage indeed and one of two standouts for the Sabres in 2024.
Akoldah Gak (West Adelaide Bearcats)
When you look at the Bearcats and the consistent performances – the one who was there out of the big “3” stands out despite the presence of both Anthony Drmic and Fabian Krslovic. This is where maybe the votes may slip away from Gak however his importance can’t be understated given Lachlan Olbrich’s absence this season. That may stand out to the vote casters and perhaps Gak is much closer to the top than we think. At 21 years of age he could possibly walk away with two medals in the one night.
Keep An Eye on
Branden Jenkins (Central Districts Lions)
More games have been won by Centrals this year and like last season Jenkins will still poll very strongly (at least eight times) having always stayed amongst the best players nightly. This time around he’s got some stiff competition in the second half of the season with Magnus Richards and Koen Sapwell taking some off him. Jenkins has however all-rounded his game a little more this year. That could be worth a watch from the outside looking in.
Sharif Black (Woodville Warriors)
Started the season with a bang and showed vote grabbing potential in every significant performance of his in the season. He was clearly the best for the Warriors throughout their strongest performances in the season however there were also some lower numbers which may hurt him being right up in the top echelon this season.
Uche Dibiamaka (Forestville Eagles)
If I am looking for someone that maybe in our calculations might be not right up there but could be – then the Eagles dynamic guard fits that description. His impact in games was much larger than the stats suggested and also had big numbers on nights when others did on paper. Impact is always down to the voter casters and that’s where he might be a bigger smokey than we think.
The Winner is… Alex Starling
Starling does it at both ends of the floor and that’s where the key advantage he has over the others might be. His team finished top and he was there from the very start of the season and finally – he’s likely to get three votes at least close to ten times given the other numbers surrounding those matches and that we can’t guarantee with the other competitors. If it does happen it will be the tenth medal for the club and first player to win it at three different clubs in the history of the league.
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