McMahon and Thwaites win top awards

Goalers Sharelle McMahon (Melbourne Phoenix) and Caitlin Thwaites (Melbourne Kestrels) won the Most Valuable Player award for their respective teams at the Netball Victoria State Awards last Saturday night.

McMahon has had a busy year with a full schedule of international commitments that included captaining Australia at the Commonwealth Games and sharing the co-captaincy of the Melbourne Phoenix with defender Bianca Chatfield.

Phoenix coach Julie Hoornweg accepted the award on McMahon’s behalf who was away on representative duties with the Australian team. Hoornweg had nothing but praise for McMahon.

“Sharelle is an absolute star and she definitely deserves this award,” she said.

Thwaites was surprised to win the award and she expected Kestrels co-captains Chelsea Nash or Rebecca Strachan to win it ahead of her.

“It was very unexpected actually; I thought Chelsea Nash and Rebecca Strachan had a lot more of a chance than me,” she said.

In other awards, Ingrid Dick won the Pat Chapple trophy for outstanding services to the Phoenix as a netball club and former Melbourne Kestrels player Melinda Cranston won the Most Valuable Player award in championship division of the Victoria State League.

Former Melbourne Kestrels and Australian midcourter Nicole Richardson was inducted as a “Legend of the Game” following a much celebrated career that included 94 CBT appearances for the Kestrels from 1997-2003 and 32 Tests for Australia from 1999-2003.

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