WNBL Grand Final Most Valuable Player Award

The Women's National Basketball League Grand Final Most Valuable Player (MVP) is an annual Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) award given to the best player of the Grand Final. Since 2014, the award has been known as the Rachael Sporn Medal, named after Adelaide's most recognised and successful WNBL player, Rachael Sporn, also a twice winner of the award.[1] Lauren Jackson has won the award four times, while Kelsey Griffin has won the award three times.

Winners

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Denotes player inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame
Denotes player who is still active
Player (X) Denotes the number of times the player had been named MVP at that time
Team (X) Denotes the number of times a player from this team had won at that time
Season Player Position Nationality Team
1985 Karin Maar   Australia Coburg Cougars
1986 Shelley Gorman   Australia Nunawading Spectres
1987 Tracey Browning   Australia Nunawading Spectres (2)
1988 Shelley Gorman (2)   Australia Nunawading Spectres (3)
1989 Samantha Thornton   Australia Nunawading Spectres (4)
1990 Donna Brown   Australia North Adelaide Rockets
1991 Robyn Maher   Australia Hobart Islanders
1992 Tanya Fisher   Australia Perth Breakers
1993 Annie Burgess Guard   Australia Sydney Flames
1994 Rachael Sporn Forward   Australia Adelaide Lightning
1995 Rachael Sporn (2) Forward   Australia Adelaide Lightning (2)
1996 Michelle Griffiths Forward   Australia Adelaide Lightning (3)
1997 Trisha Fallon Guard/forward   Australia Sydney Flames (2)
1998 Jo Hill Forward   Australia Adelaide Lightning (4)
1999 Kristen Veal Guard   Australia Australian Institute of Sport
2000 Kristen Veal (2) Guard   Australia Canberra Capitals
2001 Annie Burgess (2) Guard   Australia Sydney Panthers (3)
2002 Lauren Jackson Forward/center   Australia Canberra Capitals (2)
2003 Lauren Jackson (2) Forward/center   Australia Canberra Capitals (3)
2004 Emily McInerny Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers
2005 Jacinta Hamilton Forward/center   Australia Dandenong Rangers (2)
2006 Lauren Jackson (3) Forward/center   Australia Canberra Capitals (4)
2007 Tracey Beatty Center   Australia Canberra Capitals (5)
2008 Renae Camino Guard   Australia Adelaide Lightning (5)
2009 Natalie Hurst Guard   Australia Canberra Capitals (6)
2010 Lauren Jackson (4) Forward/center   Australia Canberra Capitals (7)
2011 Sharin Milner Guard   Australia Bulleen Boomers
2012 Kathleen MacLeod Guard   Australia Dandenong Rangers (3)
2013 Kelsey Griffin Forward   United States Bendigo Spirit
2014 Kelsey Griffin (2) Forward   United States Bendigo Spirit (2)
2015 Mia Newley Guard   Australia Townsville Fire
2016 Micaela Cocks Guard   New Zealand Townsville Fire (2)
2017 Leilani Mitchell Guard   Australia Sydney Uni Flames (4)
2018 Suzy Batkovic Center   Australia Townsville Fire (3)
2019 Kelsey Griffin (3) Forward   Australia Canberra Capitals (8)
2019–20 Olivia Époupa Guard   France Canberra Capitals (9)
2020 Leilani Mitchell (2) Guard   Australia Southside Flyers (4)
2022 Lindsay Allen Guard   United States Melbourne Boomers (2)
2023 Tianna Hawkins Forward   United States Townsville Fire (4)
2024 Mercedes Russell Center   United States Southside Flyers (5)

Multi-time winners

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Rank Player Team(s) Awards Years
1 Lauren Jackson Canberra Capitals 4 2002, 2003, 2006, 2010
2 Kelsey Griffin Bendigo Spirit (2) / Canberra Capitals (1) 3 2013, 2014, 2019
3 Shelley Gorman Nunawading Spectres 2 1986, 1988
Rachael Sporn Adelaide Lightning 1994, 1995
Kristen Veal Australian Institute of Sport (1) / Canberra Capitals (1) 1999, 2000
Annie Burgess Sydney Flames / Panthers 1993, 2001
Leilani Mitchell Sydney Uni Flames (1) / Southside Flyers (1) 2017, 2020

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Nagy, Boti (March 5, 2014). Rachael Sporn Medal the new award for WNBL grand final Most Valuable Player. The Adelaide Advertiser. Retrieved 2015-01-31.
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