GIANTS Netball and Australian Diamonds midcourter Jamie-Lee Price was named the state’s Suncorp Super Netball Player of the Year when she took home the Marilyn Melhuish OAM Medal at the 2021 Netball NSW State Awards on Wednesday evening.
The Medal is presented to the standout player from Netball NSW’s two professional clubs – the NSW Swifts and GIANTS Netball – over the course of the Super Netball regular season. Price tallied the highest number of points throughout 2021 to win the Medal for the first time.
Price’s award was one of several presented on the evening as Netball NSW moved its end-of-season celebration online for the first time in the organisation’s history.
Two of NSW’s best up-and-coming players from the Origin Energy Premier League were celebrated with the Sutherland Stingrays’ Toni Anderson winning the Nance Kenny OAM Medal for the Opens Player of the Year, while Isabella Rankin of the UTS Randwick Sparks collected the Wendy Archer AM Medal in the Under 23s competition.
There was further good news for the GIANTS when Ali Tucker-Munro (Randwick Netball Association), who heads up their Academy, was named the Margret Corbett OAM Coach of the Year with Ang Frketic (Liverpool Netball Association) winning the club’s Marj Groves AM Scholarship for 2021 while Lili Gorman-Brown (Sutherland Shire Netball Association) was named the recipient of the same Scholarship on the Swifts side.
Young Liverpool umpire Sarah McNamara was named the Neita Matthews OAM Umpire of the Year while Margot Patterson (Northern Suburbs Netball Association) was named the Lynn Quinn OAM Bench Official of the Year with Anne Tait (Inner Western Suburbs Netball Association) winning the Dot McHugh OAM Administrator Award.
In recognition of their outstanding contribution to the promotion and growth of netball over many decades, the following volunteers were presented with the Anne Clark BEM Service Award: Doreen Snedden (Newcastle), Maureen Munce (Randwick), Helen Steunkel (Tumut), Karon Dawson (Kiama) and Marie Kelly (Randwick).
In the Judy Dunbar Media Awards categories, the following journalists were recognised: Sarah Keoghan/Sydney Morning Herald (Best Overall Media Coverage), Emma Greenwood/The Daily Telegraph (Best Feature), Steven Markham/Speed Media (Best Photo), Nathan Taylor/Western Weekender (Best Local Media Coverage).
Netball NSW CEO Tain Drinkwater paid tribute to the game’s community after a tough 2021, which was impacted by COVID-19 enforced lockdowns of Greater Sydney and much of rural NSW.
“To say it’s been a challenging year would be the understatement, but here we are – still standing,” she said.
“Netball – as ever – stood up, was counted and didn’t shy away from our responsibility to do the right thing by the wider community.
“Given the huge challenges of lockdowns I am truly honoured and proud that we still have had so much to celebrate at both the elite and grassroots level of our game.
“It may not have been a regular netball season, but it was one where we all collectively focused our energies on what we could control and there were some pretty fantastic results.
“I want to extend a huge thank you to everyone in the netball community for what they’ve done to advance the game as the force of good it is over the past 12 months.”
2021 Netball NSW Awards Winners
Marilyn Melhuish OAM Medal – Jamie-Lee Price (GIANTS Netball)
Nance Kenny OAM Medal – Toni Anderson (Sutherland Stingrays)
Wendy Archer AM Medal – Isabella Rankin (UTS Randwick Sparks)
Marj Groves AM Scholarship – Ang Frketic (GIANTS Academy/Liverpool), Lili Gorman-Brown (QBE Swifts Academy/Sutherland Shire)
Margaret Corbett OAM Coach of the Year – Ali Tucker-Munro (Randwick)
Neita Matthews OAM Umpire of the Year – Sarah McNamara (Liverpool)
Lynn Quinn OAM Bench Official of the Year – Margot Patterson (Northern Suburbs)
Dot McHugh OAM Administrator Award – Anne Tait (Inner Western Suburbs)
Judy Dunbar Media Awards:
– Best Overall Media Coverage: Sarah Keoghan/Sydney Morning Herald
– Best Feature: Emma Greenwood/The Daily Telegraph
– Best Photo: Steve Markham/Speed Media
– Best Local Media: Nathan Taylor/Western Weekender
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