Best in class: Club champions crowned as Finals loom

Photo: Adelaide 36ers.

With the Hungry Jack’s NBL26 regular season wrapping up, a number of teams have staged their annual awards night to recognise the successes of their campaigns.

South East Melbourne, Cairns, Illawarra and New Zealand all held their respective presentation evenings on Friday, February 20, with Nathan Sobey, Jack McVeigh, JaVale McGee and Parker Jackson-Cartwright taking home their respective club MVP awards.

Joining Sobey in the Phoenix’s award winners list at Centrepiece were John Brown III, who claimed Defensive Player of the Year, The Locker Room Award and Fan Voted Player of the Year, Malique Lewis, who took out the Community Impact Award, Tracey Helman, Heartland Volunteer of the Year, and Simon Wigg, Staff Member of the Year.

Up in Cairns, McVeigh also took out the club’s Members’ Choice MVP, while other recipients on the night were Andrew Andrews (Players’ Player Award), Kyrin Galloway (Defensive Player of the Year), Lachlan Barker (Coaches’ Award), Jed Richardson (Commitment to the Community) and John Richardson (Club Person of the Year).

In Wollongong, Daniel Grida claimed three trophies: Most Improved, Players’ Player and Member’s Choice Award.

Other Hawks to be recognised were Mason Peatling (Coaches’ Award), Wani Swaka Lo Buluk (Defensive Player of the Year), Kobe McDowell-White (Community Award), Bob Purcell (Volunteer of the Year) and Kumar Manix (Club Person of the Year).

In New Zealand, Jackson-Cartwright also claimed the Members' Choice Award, with Sam Mennenga (Fans' Most Memorable Moment and Youth Player of the Year), Izaiah Brockington (Defensive Player of the Year), Alex McNaught (Players' Player), Bryce Abernethy (Clubman of the Year) and Jayden Boucher (Blackwell Community Cup) we also recognised.

Then on Saturday, February 21, both Tasmania and Brisbane staged their end-of-season awards.

In the Apple Isle, Josh Bannan was named the JackJumpers’ MVP, with Will Magnay (Defensive Player of the Year), Nick Marshall (Players’ Player and Coaches’ Award), Majok Deng (Fan Favourite Award) and Christine Finnegan (Spirit of the JackJumpers Award) also being recognised.

In Brisbane, big man Tyrell Harrison claimed the Leroy Loggins MVP trophy, as Mitch North (Players’ Player Award and Defensive Player of the Year), Jacob Holt (Young Player of the Year), Olly Reid (Narelle Kelly Award for outstanding service) and Craig Leaney (Volunteer of the Year) also took home silverware.

On Saturday, February 28, Bryce Cotton took home the Mark Davis Perpetual Most Valuable Player Award in Adelaide, after an incredible first season at the club.

The Most Improved Player honours went to Flynn Cameron, as he did at the League's award night, while Cotton won the Members' Choice Award, Isaac Humphries the Coaches Award, Nick Rakocevic the Chairman's Award and Zylan Cheatham the Defensive Award.

Since then, both Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth have held their end of season awards, with Jesse Edwards, Bryce Cotton and Kristian Doolittle taking out the respective MVP awards.

Joining Edwards as Melbourne award recipients were Tyson Walker (Defensive Player of the Year), Fabijan Krslovic (Share Award), Kyle Bowen (United Belt Award), Suzanne Jenkins and Lochie Gay (joint winners of Vince Crivelli Club Person of the Year).

While in Adelaide, Cotton also won Members' Choice Award, with Isaac Humphries (Coaches' Award), Nick Rakocevic (Chairman's Award), Flynn Cameron (Most Improved) and Zylan Cheatham (Defensive Award) taking home silverware.

Finally in Perth, Doolittle also took out Defensive Player of the Year, with Jesse Wagstaff (Players' Player), Tom Gerovich (Coaches' Award) and David Okwera (Most Improved) also being recognised.

The NBL26 Finals tip off on Wednesday, March 4, with the Seeding Qualifier between South East Melbourne and Perth at John Cain Arena from 7.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.

Kendric Davis took out the Sydney Kings' MVP award earlier this month .

Photo: Jess Peterson.