American Colleen Planeta’s whirlwind two years in Australia have culminated in the Hume City Broncos star winning her second straight Big V women’s championship ‘most valuable player’ award.
Last year she took the competition by storm, making the state championship all-star five, being named defensive player of the year, leading scorer and MVP, and leading her side to a championship. That was always going to be a hard act to follow.
But this year she backed up by averaging 22.4 points a game, behind only Carley Mijovic, and 10 rebounds a game to be named MVP at Saturday night’s Big V awards.
Planeta was also named in the all-star five for a second straight year.
“It’s always exciting when you receive rewards,” she said.
“It was harder this year … teams know you better and make it harder on you, for sure.”
The MVP win justifies Planeta’s decision to play in Australia after a stint in Germany, instead of retiring as she had originally planned.
“I then came to this club and fell in love with the girls, the coaches and the whole club in general,” she said. “It’s great to be part of it.”
In bad news for opposition players, Planeta plans on coming back for a third year with the Broncos, a championship the key focus after the side missed out this year.
“It’s been a great couple of years and it’ll be one more year to see if we can get it all again,” she said.
“We’re such a competitive team … we seem hungrier after this year as we’re used to winning.”
Planeta’s gongs were just the start of the awards the Broncos received on Saturday night.
They were named overall ‘club of the year’.
“It’s a really big reward for our club and all our teams,” Planeta said. “I’m proud to be part of it.”
The all-conquering youth league women’s division 1 team was rewarded for its championship season.
Sophie Byrnes was named in the all-star five, Gem Wright won the defensive player of the year gong, and Glen Milner was named joint coach of the year for that division.
Craigieburn’s Dennis McNamara was named coach of the year in men’s division 2, while Jonathon Maybank was named in the division 2 all-star five.
