2025 Woollacott Medal Preview

A set of previous winners take on the old team-mate of a previous winner while could one player be the first for their club in 12 years???

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       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)

2023       Jawan Stepney (Woodville)

2024       Alex Starling (South Adelaide)

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)

We listed the past 11 years above because that’s when the veteran star of our league last won it – he’s a chance to do it again even stronger this year. The ultimate plug and play player has been elite this year in his work for the Eagles averaging 20.1 points (#6), 7.6 rebounds (#14) and 5.1 assists (#6).

This in a team of stars has arguably been his strongest season in multiple years and in those seasons he polled right near the top – that paves for a possible entry into the multiple winners club in 2025…

Keanu Rasmussen (West Adelaide Bearcats)

A breakout NBL season at the Adelaide 36er, given the keys to the point guard position and under the coach who masters the stars of the league equals very warm if not red hot favourite for the Woollacott. Rightly so for Rasmussen who has had an outstanding season in his most productive stint in the NBL1 Central with 24.1 points at 54 percent (#1 with a plus nine point lift since last stint in 2023), six rebounds and 5.3 assists (# with a plus three lift as above).

14 likely games are likely to yield votes with not much chance of too many steals off him. The work in the NZNBL with Hawke’s Bay and the NBL time has elevated his game to another level as a genuine superstar – his chances of taking the Bearcats first Woollacott since his this season contender in DJ highly probable.

Christian Brandon (South Adelaide Panthers)

The team-mate of a previous winner may be a good omen for the athletic import forward and he started with a bang. Expecting he’ll be leading early out of the blocks with his first seven likely to produce some big numbers on the leader board.

A patch in the middle of the season, some missed games and an on fire Lloyd McVeigh may possibly keep him out of the final picture but you just never know for a player in the top ten for points (#7 at 19.7) and rebounds (#7 at 8.9)…  

The Smokeys

Greg Mays (Forestville Eagles)

Can’t talk the Woollacott Medal without looking at the Grand Final MVP of 2024 who to be honest has probably at least equalled his previous season output. If last year was an indication – Mays polled more than we all anticipated in 2024 and there is no doubt the all-star five member will be amongst the numbers again.

The statistics don’t talk to the influence and impact he has – the issue this year is he has at least three other team-mates taking valuable votes off him including the next smokey…

Alex Starling (Forestville Eagles)

Never write off the three time Woollacott Medallist and last year’s recipient of the award. Gunning for his second in a row and fourth to equal Huba Nagy of the Norwood Flames – this year is difficult to see him chasing down the leaders at his own club let alone the rest of the competition.

But we also wouldn’t count him out on his impact being measured in the key numbers including #1 in rebounds with 11.8 points and his defensive qualities having won DPOY five times – which also has him trying to equal Todd Matthews of the Flames across the late 2000s.

Nick Wurm (Woodville Warriors)

A career best season (at least to the eye) for the dynamic guard who has won more games off his own back than we can recall in sometime. Wurm’s impact has seen the Warriors rise from a challenger to a genuine contender for the championship in the second half of the season.

A plus five points per game rise has shown he may be the clutch player the Warriors need and this will reflect in the count – likely to take votes in at least six of the last nine matches but will it be enough to catch the leaders by counts end?

Keep An Eye on

BJ Symons (Eastern Mavericks)

TP called it before the season started that the skillset the Diamond Valley Eagle would bring to our league would be a problem for a majority of teams. The dominant paint player has grown on all of us having produced big time performance after performance to nearly steer the Mavs to a first time finals appearance in over twenty plus years.

That’s where the votes may fall short for Symons is number of wins for his side but with all 18 games played he likely has polled in 12 games and likely more as his unique style of play has a greater influence than the numbers suggest.

Efe Abogidi (Central Districts Lions)

“The Monster of our League” as dubbed by Downtown Allan Browne certainly proved to be a matchup problem at his best in 2025 and looms also as an X-Factor for the Lions in the upcoming finals series. Abogidi at his best has been unstoppable with not only power around the rim at both ends but also a deadly stroke from outside making him an incredibly difficult proposition to guard.

Our only concern from a medal point of view is the evenness of the Lions team where votes are spread but he also has a strong patch between Round 8-14 where he’ll punch a few tres and twos likely keeping him just outside the contenders.

Joe Jackson (Woodville Warriors)

Numbers definitely don’t tell the story but positional change and being part of the third best team on the ladder do and if Wurm doesn’t get votes – Joe is someone who will.

A highly fancied opportunity for the defensive player of the year from the second best defensive team of the year – we are all intrigued how much of the votes he will get it. He could emerge as a real left field option but also we wouldn’t be surprised if he gets more votes than we gave as his impact would be highly valued especially in the key voters’ eyes.

Our final prediction for the Woollacott Medal will be announced on Episode 39 of the SA Shotclock

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?

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2025 Eiler Medal Preview

The race is between three it seems for the newly named Lorraine Eiler Medal (formerly known as the Halls) at the Basketball SA Awards this Sunday – Will we have a dual winner for the first time since Williams or will two long time participants who have won multiple Merv Harris awards finally take out the final gong???

Photo Credit – As Supplied

5-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…

Halls now to be known as the Lorraine Eiler Medal

(The following was released by Basketball SA earlier this year)

The Halls Medal has been a symbol of excellence in South Australian women’s basketball for over half a century. First awarded in 1964, the prestigious honour was established to recognise the best and fairest players in the District Women’s competition. Over the years, it has evolved into the award for the Fairest and Most Brilliant player, with referees casting votes after every game on a 3-2-1 basis.

With a history rich in talent, past winners include some of Australia’s basketball greats — Rachael Sporn (West Adelaide, 1989 & 1993), Suzy Batkovic (West Adelaide, 2002), Alex Wilson (Eastern Mavericks, 2017), and Kristen Veal (Norwood, 1999), among others.

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. In 2024 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 origins of the award date back to a time when the Woollacott Medal was the sole recognition for standout players. A push for a separate women’s award led to Halls Soft Drinks sponsoring the medal, creating a legacy that has stood the test of time.

Now, in recognition of the remarkable contributions of women in basketball and the sport’s ever-evolving landscape, the Halls Medal is set to be renamed. And there is no better figure to honour in this transition than Lorraine Eiler, a true trailblazer of women’s basketball in Australia.

Photo provided by Basketball SA in Media Release March 18

Eiler was a natural leader who captained South Australia’s state team at the first- ever National Championships in 1955, winning the first of nine consecutive titles.

She made history as the captain of Australia’s first-ever national women’s basketball team, leading the Opals at the 1957 FIBA World Championships in Brazil. What makes her story even more remarkable is that she had only taken up basketball three years prior to her historic selection.

A multi-talented athlete, Eiler excelled in basketball and netball, where she
represented Australia and led the national team to victory over England in 1956. She was also an A-grade tennis and squash player. But it was her ground-breaking journey in basketball that saw her become the first Australian woman to receive a U.S. college scholarship — an opportunity that paved the way for future generations of female athletes.

Her legacy was cemented when she was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Sport SA Hall of Fame in 2015. She remains one of the most influential figures in Australian women’s basketball history.

The official unveiling of the new name will take place at this Sunday’s Basketball SA Awards Gala, ensuring that the legacy of the Halls Medal continues to inspire generations to come.

The inaugural Lorraine Eiler Medallist will be awarded to the Fairest and Most Brilliant player of the 2025 NBL1 Central season.

Previous Decade Winners

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)

2024 Casey Samuels (Central Districts Lions)

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 Favourites

Olivia Levicki (West Adelaide Bearcats)

Our raging favourite going into the season and for good reason. Levicki did not miss a beat despite the rust coming into the season off three years away from the game in AFLW with Port Adelaide. The big part here is she’s a previous winner (2016) and has always caught the eye with her size and speed combination.

The dominant player on her team going through her numbers we think she’s polled at least 12 of her 17 games while being top five in points (21.5) and rebounds (14.1 at #1) while also capturing 1.4 steals and blocks to boot

West haven’t had a winner since Sam Woosnam in 2006 – Levicki could be the first of their new era…

Sam Simons (Forestville Eagles)

The time as a Tiger in NBL1 South has Simons peaking at the right time of her career. An incredibly consistent season playing every game in the team that finished top of the ladder. A multiple Merv Harris award winner across 2021 and 2022 for the most number of votes in the medal by an Under 23 player means she’s already a known poller in the counts.

Simons finished top five in points (20.8) but it will all depend on whether votes are shared in her side – however we are anticipating polling in at least 16 of her 18 games this season.

Jasmin Fejo (Woodville Warriors)

As the Warriors got their momentum rolling after a tough opening three matches – so did the multiple championship winner. The last six matches of 21, 28, 26, 15, 17 and 26 saw her finish the last third of the season 22 points per game and likely plenty of triple votes.

So our eye will be on how she polls early in the season – if she can snare a few votes in some of those losses as the Warriors best her run home could see her sweep into calculations just like her team this season…  

The Smokeys

Katia Stamatelopoulos (Sturt Sabres)

Out and out the most improved player of the season – flourishing in her new environment at the Sabres. Stamatelopoulos upped her numbers by +5 in points, +2 in assists and +5 in rebounds – the style she plays with is impactful and has been one of the recruits of the season.

The key as always with votes in a Sabres side is the evenness of performance and while polling reasonably high and likely the most from her team – the Sabres top performances weekly are generally split amongst their band.

Mollie McKendrick (North Adelaide Rockets)

With Basham, Mansfield and Freer missing significant games a big reason why the Rockets are finals bound goes back to the veteran presence of Mollie McKendrick. Another known all-star five frequent flyer into those teams and recognised long term for her impact at both ends of the floor – McKendrick once again will poll strong.

Amanda Paschal (Norwood Flames)

Caught the eye of our commentators at the start of the season as to how much vote gathering she would do depending on where her team finished on the table. Stuffs the stat sheet for points (#7 at 18.8), rebounds (#6 at 8.9), assists (#10 at 3.9 ) and steals (#6 at 2.6) per game featuring in the top 10 in all key categories.

The simple fact is number of wins and a team-mate likely to pinch some votes for during the season in Ke’Shunan James…

Keep An Eye on

Iva Belosevic/McKenzie Johnston (Southern Tigers)

Its rare in prediction you nominate two players equally and while one by our account just shaded the other for top votes from the Southern Tigers – who knows if a few might pass the way of each other to elevate them right into a contending position.

Both have had excellent individual seasons but their downfall will be the number of wins for the Tigers – I also see them being some of the few players to still grab three or two per game in losses as well so well worth keeping the eye of on it.

Jordyn Freer (North Adelaide Rockets)

If it’s not McKendrick getting votes it’ll be Jordyn Freer that’ll be pinching them for the Rockets up top. Expect her to start strong in the polling but as the season went along and team-mates returned – may fade in the count late but still finish in a strong position and still feature in the all-star five conversation.

Kiera Gardiner (South Adelaide Panthers)

The breakout player of the year from the South Adelaide Panthers and if she polls well this weekend will be one to keep an eye on for the Eiler medal in the future. Could finish the season very strong grabbing votes for her wins for the Panthers and even in losses may take at least a vote across the competition.

Our final prediction for the Eiler medal will be announced on Episode 39 of the SA Shotclock

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

The “Ball” is not in your court and what it could mean

“The ball is in your court” is a phrase I’ve reflected on a lot these past twelve months but what happens when it’s in someone else’s and you struggle with not knowing if it’s coming your way or whether it will.

It may be for a reason we are yet to see either if it does or doesn’t

Silence can be one of the hardest things to deal with in life, no doubt about it. The waiting for a job opportunity, making the team, taking that extra step in that application process from “thankyou for your application unfortunately you weren’t successful this time” to “Your application was successful. ” It’s always easy when we have control of these things and have the “ball in our court” and as a society whether we deny it or not – we are hungry for this in our lives. 

One of the great life lessons and skills is to let that go – but our desire for things on a daily basis that fill our basket of wants and also needs can often get in the way. We are often advertised as needing complete control of our lives, finances, desires, fulfillment, and satisfaction. The list is really endless when you think about it. I believe from my own personal experiences that’s where the anxiety when we don’t have this grows.

The list is really endless and never runs out once you get control of that thing something else crops up, then that thing and often that control you get creates another thing out of that vicious cycle. It becomes draining and tiring chasing the ball around trying to be the only one with it in your hands.

You then become bitter, angry, upset and ultimately stop growing in character when you chase something that feels like it can never end. What shapes this is the belief you can achieve ultimate control in your own stead – but our lives reflect daily that simply is not possible and also is fraught with caution in the relationships we have daily with others. 

On this Good Friday – Jesus had complete control of the situation even when he was hanging on the cross – you would remember the story of the two robbers who were hanging next to him – one assumed he would just exercise his control and come down from there but the other knew this is the point he was trying to make about our lives and the many he would save for the decision he was going to ultimately make.

“One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah?” Save yourself and us!” but the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what we deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 

Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you today you will be with me in paradise” – Luke 23:39-43 NIV

In this one moment we see a convicted man relinquish the “ball in his court” and pass it to God because next to him was the one who shouldn’t even have to pass it or give up the open scoring opportunity – did the same by giving his trust in his very life to his Father in Heaven. 

There is far more context in this one moment that can be pulled apart including the other robber who couldn’t relinquish control himself –  however the key here is that if the one who always had the ball in his court chose to give it away to his father in heaven. 

Why can’t we? 

It is because of this one decision that we actually have freedom to have more balls in our courts to either score the open look, dish off to someone else to give them something they don’t have or make a play to get closer to the target in our life he wants to give us access to. 

Cause if you have the same ball constantly in your hands then how can someone freely pass you the one that grows your character, life opportunities, relationships and share his love with your community???

Sometimes the reason you have silence in your life journey is because someone out of nowhere is about to pass you the ball that God wants you to catch, hold onto for a bit then freely choose to pass on.

It’s called an assist for a reason – it’s the ultimate assist in life…