Catch our latest episode of the SA Shotclock including the latest on SA’s local basketball leagues.
TP & Kerry review the historic night of the Halls and Woollacott Medal and reflect on the award winners.
Jordan Forbes of the Sturt Sabres faces the Shotclock to share the player perspective from last week’s first final and how they can reverse the result this weekend – it’s an honest truthful well balanced case.
Plus all your regular Basketball South Australia news including the reviews and previews of the latest NBL1 Finals and even slip in a little news around the Adelaide 36ers, Adelaide Lightning and our Olympians quest for Gold…
Photo Credit – Sarah Reed (Via Basketball SA)
Show List
0:00 – Introduction
5:20 – SA Basketball News
36:00 – Interview with Jordan Forbes Sturt Sabres
1:03:30 – NBL1 Central Halls/Woollacott Review
1:20:00 – NBL1 Central Week One Finals Results
1:43:00 – NBL1 Central Week Two Matchups and Preview
We want to continue our work telling the stories of SA Basketball this winter and beyond with world championships, local legends, NBL and WNBL previews, reviews and NBL1 off season news and predictions – Can you PLEASE HELP US with a shotclock sub of $14 or $24 a year to help us do this?
NEW – PITCH TO THE PUBLIC
It takes 4 hours a week to write, research and produce our content but we want to write extra content this next few months so we thought we’d pitch to the public
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“All about Ability – the last five year’s of the Men’s Ivor Burge Program”
“The all-time Adelaide Lightning All-Stars Team – Naming the team of the past 30 years of Adelaide Lightning players”
Eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have the remaining of piece produced on the topic of
Photo originally supplied by Rachael Sporn for ESPN Australia
Another eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers or contributors directly will have both pieces done for production
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A second Halls medal for the “Lady Lions” and a historic third medal at a third club for the first time in the league’s history leads the headlines of a grandeurs Halls-Woollacott Medal Night at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Adelaide
Photo Credit – Sarah Reed (Via Basketball SA)
3-Minute Read
NBL1 Central Broadcaster/Analyst Tristan Prentice reporting from the Halls Woollacott Medal last Sunday 21 July
Over 200 people attended the Halls Woollacott Medal for 2024 at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Adelaide in a night of glitz and grandeur to celebrate one of the most competitive seasons of the state league ever seen. Hosted by “Downtown” Allan Browne – the consensus this year was both awards there weren’t any runaway favourites as the league concluded one of it’s closest in both the womens and mens in it’s history.
The tight count was evident in the women’s with it coming down to the last three rounds with Casey Samuels emulating the feats of the previous sole Halls medal winner Jess Mahony at the same venue 12 years ago. Casey becomes the first local player to win in the Halls in over five years with the last being Chelsea Brook in 2018. Samuels of the Bendigo Spirit beat out Brooke Basham and Brittany Hodges in the final rounds with Maddy Freer polling much stronger than expected and along with Tayla Levy rounded out the top five. All five were named in the all-star five in a strong field.
Tim Shortt of the Sturt Sabres won his third coach of the year award in a row to be the first coach in the women’s to do so since the introduction of the award in 1998. Maddy Freer became the fourth winner of the Merv Harris award for the best U23 Youth Player of the Year from the Forestville Eagles in consecutive years and a back to back winner and two time winner following after Sam Simons (Eagles) and Cayla George (nee Francis for the Eastern Mavericks). Sturt Sabres Zoe Walker-Roberts capped a remarkable year for the top of the table Sabres with Defensive Player of the Year and joined Jess Mahony, Monique Bowley, Caroline Burgess and Tayla Brazel as the fifth winner from the Springbank based club.
In the mens it looked like several challengers took take out several of the awards but the night belonged to the storied journey of one Alex Starling who created multiple strands of history. Starling’s third Woollacott medal beating out Sabres pair Jacob Rigoni, Jordan Forbes and Forestville Eagles Greg Mays and Daniel Johnson is a historic one. Alex is the first player to win three Woollacott Medals at three different clubs (2014 Woodville, 2018 North Adelaide and now 2024 at South) and elevates himself to equal third overall with Jacob Holmes (2003, 2004 and 2011), Bearcats legend Werner Linde (1966, 1969 and 1971) and a Panther great in Ron Nunnelly (1993, 1994, 1997). Starling can now chase down Legendary Norwood Flame in Huba Nagy with four across 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1972 and the great Panthers himself in Mark Davis with five across the late 80s into early 90s with medals in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1992.
The accolades continued for Starling taking out his third MVP award, fifth defensive player of the year and sixth all-star five nomination. No player across Mens or Womens has done that since Vikki Kelson at the Southern Suns in 2001 taking out the brace of Halls/Woollacott, MVP, DPOY and All-Star Five. He equals Jason Dix of the Forestville Eagles (2002, 2003 and 2005) as the top MVP award winner and is now second in the all-time defensive player of the year award winner behind Todd Matthews of the Norwood Flames (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014).
Ineligible to win the award Starling of course could not take out the Frank Angove Medal for the best U23 Youth Player of the Year (although at times he may look like it on court) – that went to 21 year-old Cairns Taipans recruit Akoldah Gak for the West Adelaide Bearcats to make them back-to-back medallists while the all-star five included Forbes, Rigoni, Mays, Starling and Central Districts Lions Branden Jenkins. Paul Rigoni was once again recognised by his peers as the Coach of the Year for the fifth time and making it a Sturt Sabres double across the Womens and Mens for the second consecutive year.
For the officials the Phillip Yuill medal for the Womens was awarded to Nathan Davis for the second year in a row and for the Mens to Nathan Durant – his eleventh award in either Mens and Womens since 2007.
We want to continue our work telling the stories of SA Basketball this winter and beyond with world championships, local legends, NBL and WNBL previews, reviews and NBL1 off season news and predictions – Can you PLEASE HELP US with a shotclock sub of $14 or $24 a year to help us do this?
NEW – PITCH TO THE PUBLIC
It takes 4 hours a week to write, research and produce our content but we want to write extra content this next few months so we thought we’d pitch to the public
Here are the next lot of articles up for pitching – subscribe to get these written
“All about Ability – the last five year’s of the Men’s Ivor Burge Program”
“The all-time Adelaide Lightning All-Stars Team – Naming the team of the past 30 years of Adelaide Lightning players”
Eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have the remaining of piece produced on the topic of
Photo originally supplied by Rachael Sporn for ESPN Australia
Another eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers or contributors directly will have both pieces done for production
Please DM if you’d like to support another way than subscription
See if you can provide the assist we need to tell the South Australian Basketball story
All Episodes of the SA Shotclock available on podcasting platforms in the coming months
For the first time since 2021 we won’t have a repeat winner of the Halls Medal. Three players from the top five lead the way with a spirited Lion looking to secure the club’s second Womens win since 2012, another a 30 year drought for their club and another looking to make it five years in a row for the league’s imports…
Photo Credit – As Supplied
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 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.
We want to continue our work telling the stories of SA Basketball this winter and beyond with world championships, local legends, NBL and WNBL previews, reviews and NBL1 off season news and predictions – Can you PLEASE HELP US with a shotclock sub of $14 or $24 a year to help us do this?
NEW – PITCH TO THE PUBLIC
It takes 4 hours a week to write, research and produce our content but we want to write extra content this next few months so we thought we’d pitch to the public
Here are the next lot of articles up for pitching – subscribe to get these written
“All about Ability – the last five year’s of the Men’s Ivor Burge Program”
“The all-time Adelaide Lightning All-Stars Team – Naming the team of the past 30 years of Adelaide Lightning players”
Eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have the remaining of piece produced on the topic of
Photo originally supplied by Rachael Sporn for ESPN Australia
Another eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers or contributors directly will have both pieces done for production
Please DM if you’d like to support another way than subscription
See if you can provide the assist we need to tell the South Australian Basketball story
All Episodes of the SA Shotclock available on podcasting platforms in the coming months
CROSS OVER DRIBBLE 