WNBL Defensive Player of the Year Award

The WNBL Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) award given since the 1990 WNBL season to the best defensive player throughout the regular season. Since 2000, the award has been known as the Robyn Maher Defensive Player of the Year (commonly known as the Maher Medal).[1] Emily McInerny has won the award nine times, while Tully Bevilaqua has won it on four occasions.[2]

Winners edit

Denotes player whose team won championship that year
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 won 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
1990 Karen Dalton   Australia Sydney Bruins
1991 Kim Foley   United States Hobart Islanders
1992 Robyn Maher   Australia Perth Breakers
1993 Karen Dalton (2)   Australia Sydney Flames (2)
1994 Robyn Maher (2)   Australia Sydney Flames (3)
1995 Tully Bevilaqua Guard   Australia Perth Breakers (2)
1996 Tully Bevilaqua (2) Guard   Australia Perth Breakers (3)
1997 Tully Bevilaqua (3) Guard   Australia Perth Breakers (4)
1998 Emily McInerny Forward   Australia Melbourne Tigers
1998–99 Emily McInerny (2) Forward   Australia Melbourne Tigers (2)
1999–00 Tully Bevilaqua (4) Guard   Australia Perth Breakers (5)
2000–01 Emily McInerny (3) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers
2001–02 Emily McInerny (4) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers (2)
2002–03 Natalie Porter Forward   Australia Townsville Fire
2003–04 Emily McInerny (5) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers (3)
2004–05 Emily McInerny (6) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers (4)
2005–06 Emily McInerny (7) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers (5)
2006–07 Emily McInerny (8) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers (6)
2007–08 Emily McInerny (9) Forward   Australia Dandenong Rangers (7)
2008–09 Alicia Poto Guard   Australia Sydney Uni Flames (4)
2009–10 Rachael Flanagan Guard   Australia Townsville Fire (2)
2010–11 Rachael Flanagan (2) Guard   Australia Townsville Fire (3)
2011–12 Alicia Poto (2) Guard   Australia Sydney Uni Flames (5)
2012–13 Kristi Harrower Guard   Australia Bendigo Spirit
2013–14 Rebecca Allen Forward   Australia Melbourne Boomers
2014–15 Kelsey Griffin Forward   United States Bendigo Spirit (2)
2015–16 Stephanie Cumming Guard   Australia Dandenong Rangers (8)
2016–17 Marianna Tolo Center   Australia Canberra Capitals
2017–18 Kayla Pedersen Forward   United States Dandenong Rangers (9)
2018–19 Lauren Nicholson Guard   Australia Adelaide Lightning
2019–20 Mercedes Russell Center   United States Southside Flyers (10)
2020 Stephanie Talbot Guard/forward   Australia Adelaide Lightning (2)
2021–22 Brittney Sykes Guard   United States Canberra Capitals (2)
2022–23 Stephanie Talbot (2) Guard/forward   Australia Adelaide Lightning (3)
2023–24 Lauren Nicholson (2) Guard   Australia Sydney Flames (6)

Multi-time winners edit

Rank Player Team(s) Awards Years
1 Emily McInerny Melbourne Tigers (2) / Dandenong Rangers (7) 9 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
2 Tully Bevilaqua Perth Breakers 4 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004
3 Karen Dalton Sydney Flames 2 1990, 1993
Robyn Maher Perth Breakers (1) / Sydney Flames (1) 1992, 1994
Rachael McCully Townsville Fire 2010, 2011
Alicia Poto Sydney Uni Flames 2009, 2012
Stephanie Talbot Adelaide Lightning 2020, 2023
Lauren Nicholson Adelaide Lightning (1) / Sydney Flames (1) 2019, 2024

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Women's National Basketball League. Defensive Player of the Year. Retrieved 2015-02-22.
  2. ^ McInerny earns ninth WNBL Defensive Player of the Year award (March 5, 2008). BigV Basketball. Retrieved 2015-02-22.