Rockingham Flames men’s guard White wins inaugural Sound Telegraph award

US import guard Caleb White has been named the inaugural Sound Telegraph Rockingham Flames Player of the Year following an impressive State Basketball League season with the club.

White polled the maximum 3 votes in six games on his way to 33 votes to finish six ahead of Maddie Allen and Greg Hire on 27.

Darcee Garbin finished in third with 26 votes despite only playing 12 games.

As part of its sponsorship of the Flames in 2019, the Telegraph devised an overall player of the year award to cement its ties with the club.

The Flames issue their own men’s and women’s most valuable player gongs at their end of season awards, but the format of the Telegraph’s award was to recognise the best overall club player.

Following each home and away game votes were awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by a Telegraph reporter or, when the Telegraph couldn’t attend a game, a representative from the Flames.

As the men’s team plays four games more than the women, votes for the men’s games against the Geraldton Buccaneers and Goldfields Giants weren’t included in the count.

White averaged 15.9 points per game at 44.84 per cent shooting during the regular season and was an important cog in the Flames men’s team that finished the regular season in fourth position.

Voting was tight at the midway point of the season with White, Allen, Josh Ritchart and Chris Boag separated by just three votes.

An eight game absence through injury saw Ritchart drop out of the running, while the late arrivals of Garbin and Alex Ciabbatoni resulted in the women’s votes being split.

Hire missed nine games but consistently featured among the votes when he did play, including taking maximum votes in the round 3 loss to the Perth Redbacks, the round 10 win over the South West Slammers and round 19 loss to Warwick.

With the season now over, White has returned to the US where he will have try outs with the G-League affiliation teams of the Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards in the coming weeks.

Sound Telegraph Rockingham Flames Player of the Year

Caleb White 33

Maddie Allen, Greg Hire 27

Darcee Garbin 26

Chris Boag 24

Josh Ritchart 23

Chudier Pal 22

Alex Ciabbatoni 17

Justin Beard 16

Ryan Godfrey 12

Tayah Burrows 11

Janelle Adams, Brad Robbins 10

Luke Travers 7

Chelsea Petrik 6

Luke Roberts, Paris Duffield 4

Ella Kennedy 3

Jarryd Griffin, Jesni Cooper 2

Ari Hetherington 1