By Ian Harkin
After a very tight race, we can announce the winner of Netball Scoop’s MVP award for the 2022 Suncorp Super Netball season. After each game during the home and away rounds, a Netball Scoop writer gives their votes for the three best players on the court, and incredibly, going into the final round, there were still eight players in contention to either win the award outright or share it. But thanks to another fine performance in round 14, West Coast Fever’s goal keeper and captain, Courtney Bruce has repeated her 2021 win and come out on top.
In all, Bruce was voted best on court and awarded 3 votes by NS judges five times. That accounts for half of Fever’s ten wins for the year. When Fever needed a lift, it was usually Bruce who provided it with a vital possession gain. She has had 93 gains during the season so far, heading into the finals. Statistically speaking, she is number one in the league for defensive rebounds and deflections and number two for intercepts. In fairness though, in such a close contest, any one of the players who finished just behind Bruce, would also have been very worthy winners.
In what makes up an all-Australian top four, Firebirds’ Gretel Bueta, Swifts’ Maddy Proud, and Liz Watson from Vixens all finished equal second, just two votes behind the winner. Bueta started the year in spectacular fashion and was the leader at the halfway mark, but faded slightly in the second half of the competition. It was the complete reverse for Maddy Proud who started slowly but dominated the second half of the season, polling 12 votes in the last seven games. Watson was a consistent vote-getter all year in a team that lost only two games.
The Jamaican superstars Jhaniele Fowler and Shamera Sterling were just one further vote back in equal fifth. Fever’s Fowler polled votes in eight games (equal most with Bueta), while Sterling from the Thunderbirds probably would have finished even higher if not for fellow Jamaican Latanya Wilson having a fine season and taking votes off her. As it was, it is a tremendous effort for the two Thunderbirds players to make the top ten from a team which finished seventh. Likewise, there are also three Vixens and two Fever players on this top ten list.
2022 NS MVP Top Ten
18 . Courtney Bruce (Fever)
16 . Gretel Bueta (Firebirds)
16 . Maddy Proud (Swifts)
16 . Liz Watson (Vixens)
15 . Jhaniele Fowler (Fever)
15 . Shamera Sterling (Thunderbirds)
13 . Jo Weston (Vixens)
13 . Latanya Wilson (Thunderbirds)
12 . Kiera Austin (Vixens)
11 . Sophie Dwyer (Giants)
Image: Clinton Bradbury
Now let’s take a look at each club to see who came out on top.
VIXENS MVP
A sign of Vixens’ great season is having three players in the top ten vote getters; one from each section of the court. Liz Watson and Jo Weston were both on 13 votes coming into the last round. Watson picked up the 3 votes while Weston unfortunately didn’t add to her tally.
16 . Liz Watson
13 . Jo Weston
12 . Kiera Austin
5 . Emily Mannix
3 . Kate Eddy
3 . Kate Moloney
2 . Rahni Samason
1 . Hannah Mundy
1 . Olivia Lewis
Image: Kirsten Daley.
FEVER MVP
As overall MVP, of course Courtney Bruce also takes the Fever award. As has been the case for the past few seasons, she and Jhaniele Fowler dominated Fever voting. Both on 15 votes coming into round 14, Bruce was best on court while Fowler had her quietest game of the year.
18 . Courtney Bruce
15 . Jhaniele Fowler
8 . Alice Teague-Neeld
4 . Verity Simmons
3 . Sasha Glasgow
3 . Stacey Francis-Bayman
3 . Sunday Aryang
1 . Jess Anstiss
Image: Clinton Bradbury
GIANTS MVP
It was a good all-round team performance from GIANTS in 2022 with no absolute standout player. Six different players were awarded the three votes during the season, but it is Sophie Dwyer who comes out on top after picking up votes in five games, all of them victories.
11 . Sophie Dwyer
8 . Jo Harten
8 . Amy Parmenter
4 . April Brandley
3 . Maddie Hay
3 . Matilda McDonell
2 . Jamie-Lee Price
1 . Matisse Letherbarrow
Image May Bailey
MAGPIES MVP
In a close race for Magpies MVP, it came right down to the last game of the home and away season. Ash Brazill led coming into round 14, but unfortunately she was unable to play due to Covid protocols, and in her absence, Kelsey Browne picked up 2 votes to take out the award.
10 . Kelsey Browne
9 . Ash Brazill
8 . Geva Mentor
5 . Jodi-Ann Ward
4 . Molly Jovic
2 . Shimona Nelson
1 . Nyah Allen
Image: Kirsten Daley
SWIFTS MVP
Considering that Swifts only had six wins in 2022, it was a tremendous performance from Maddy Proud to be voted best on court four times. After a slow start to the year, she polled votes in six of the last eight rounds to win this comfortably from Sarah Klau and Maddy Turner.
16 . Maddy Proud
9 . Sarah Klau
6 . Maddy Turner
3 . Helen Housby
2 . Paige Hadley
2 . Allie Smith
Image May Bailey
FIREBIRDS MVP
Another top season for Gretel Bueta sees her finish with almost half of all the Firebirds votes and a massive 12 votes ahead of Gabi Simpson and Rubi Bakewell-Doran in equal second. She received votes in eight rounds, including six games straight between rounds two and seven.
16 . Gretel Bueta
4 . Gabi Simpson
4 . Ruby Bakewell-Doran
3 . Donnell Wallam
3 . Kim Ravaillion
2 . Lara Dunkley
1 . Eboni Usoro-Brown
1 . Jemma Mi Mi
Image May Bailey
THUNDERBIRDS MVP
It was a case of what could have been for the seventh-placed Thunderbirds, who actually received the third highest number of votes. This was due to the outstanding defensive pairing of Shamera Sterling and Latanya Wilson who had five best on court performances between them.
15 . Shamera Sterling
13 . Latanya Wilson
7 . Georgie Horjus
5 . Tayla Williams
4 . Hannah Petty
2 . Tippah Dwan
1 . Maisie Nankivell
Image: May Bailey
LIGHTNING MVP
As a demonstration of the disappointing year that Lightning had, they ended up with only 28 votes in total. Tara Hinchliffe was perhaps a surprise winner, given she was returning from injury and originally not expected to be fit for the whole season. She was voted best on court twice.
9 . Tara Hinchliffe
6 . Laura Scherian
5 . Mahalia Cassidy
3 . Steph Wood
2 . Cara Koenen
1 . Kadie-Ann Dehaney
1 . Maddie Hinchliffe
1 . Reilley Batcheldor
Image: Marcela Massey
Each year, we use the MVP votes to compile a team of the year and I’m sure you’ll agree that this is a pretty good one.
TEAM OF THE YEAR
GS – Jhaniele Fowler (Fever)
GA – Gretel Bueta (Firebirds)
WA – Liz Watson (Vixens)
C – Maddy Proud (Swifts)
WD – Ash Brazill (Magpies
GD – Jo Weston (Vixens)
GK – Courtney Bruce (Fever)
Bench:
S – Kiera Austin (Vixens)
M – Kelsey Browne (Magpies)
D – Shamera Sterling (Thunderbirds)