West Coast Fever’s Courtney Bruce has been granted the highest individual accolade in Australian netball, the Liz Ellis Diamond award.
Key points:
- After receiving the Liz Ellis Diamond award Courtney Bruce said there’s “no better birthday present”
- Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler was named Super Netball Player of the Year for a fourth straight season
- The Joyce Brown Coach of the Year was awarded to NSW Swifts’ Briony Akle after leading the side to their second title in three seasons
The Diamond’s goal keeper, who happens to turn 28 today, has been recognised at the 2021 Australian Netball Awards as the best player across Super Netball and the national side this year.
Bruce was awarded the ultimate birthday gift, a one-carat white diamond, after a stand-out Constellation Cup series that was played across the ditch back in March.
She topped the stats for intercepts (6), defensive rebounds (9) and deflections (26), playing a full 60 minutes in each of the four matches she played.
Bruce was also instrumental for West Coast in the Super Netball, guiding the team all the way to the preliminary final where they narrowly missed out on a chance to play back-to-back grand finals after a 64-61 loss to the Giants.
The team were already up against it from the very first whistle of the season after copping a 12-point penalty for breaching the salary cap, but Bruce managed to keep the green army’s motivation high as they went on to start the first eight rounds of the competition undefeated.
Her efforts from the back of the court inspired her teammates, often helping them out of trouble in games and lifting the intensity up a notch.
It’s, therefore, no surprise that she finished the year as the league’s best goal keeper, leading the stats for overall deflections (97) and gains (97). She was also equal first for defensive rebounds (26) and second for intercepts (48).
International Player of the Year
Meanwhile, new Diamonds captain Liz Watson was named as the International Player of the Year.
Watson was sidelined for the Super Netball competition after discovering she needed urgent foot surgery on her way home from the Constellation Cup tour.
Watson is widely regarded as the best wing attack in the world game, living up to that hype during that Australia and New Zealand series.
Just like Bruce, Watson played every minute of all four games, finishing as the leading goal feeder (126), with a whopping 42 feeds in the third match.
Super Netball Player of the Year
Jamaican shooter Jhaniele Fowler has won the Super Netball Player of the Year award for a fourth straight season.
The tall timber has been dominating the competition ever since her debut with the West Coast Fever in 2018 and is extremely difficult to stop at 1.96m.
Fowler finished the season with a tally of 883 goals at 96 per cent.
Rising Star Award
Sophie Dwyer was the obvious choice for the Rising Star award, as the best young player who started the season under the age of 23.
Dwyer was just 19 years old playing on her first full-time contract when she had to step up from being a bench player to a starting player in a matter of 20 minutes, after Giants goal attack Kiera Austin ruptured her ACL in the team’s first 2021 game.
She wasn’t one bit fazed, instead making the transition look easy and finishing the year as the leading goal attack for both regular goals (337) and super shots (52).
Joyce Brown Coach of the Year
The Joyce Brown Coach of the Year was awarded to Briony Akle, after she took the NSW Swifts to their second Super Netball title in three seasons.
Akle made a lot of sacrifices in 2021, including the decision to split her family up and bring her youngest two sons on the road as the Swifts made last-minute dashes across state borders to hub in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Despite the disruptions to their week-to-week preparations and Akle having to juggle home schooling and her netball commitments, the side finished the regular season in second and beat the Giants 63-59 in the grand final.
Super Netball Team of the Year
Courtney Bruce picked up her second award for the night when she was named at goal keeper in the 2021 Super Netball Team of the Year.
Jhaniele Fowler also scored the double, making it into the side as the starting goal shooter.
The team is picked based on the best player in each position and determined by a voting based system, with players, coaches and high-performance staff submitting their 3, 2 and 1 votes after each match.
At the end of the season, these are then tallied up and allocated by weighting, with players and coaches votes counting each for 40 per cent, and the Netball Australia High Performance Coaches getting a 20 per cent say.
Despite the transparency around the system, there were still some questionable choices for the team.
English shooter and Giants captain Jo Harten was named out of position at goal attack. Despite starting every match in goal shooter and mostly occupying that position.
Fans and pundits will also be trying to work out how Amy Parmenter missed out on a spot at wing defence, after earning her first call-up to the Diamonds squad for her incredible ability to win back ball.
The team line-up
GK – Courtney Bruce
GD – Sunday Aryang
WD – Gabi Simpson
C – Kim Ravaillion
WA – Maddie Hay
GA – Jo Harten
GS – Jhaniele Fowler
SUB – Shamera Sterling
SUB – Jamie-Lee Price
SUB – Sam Wallace