By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pakenham men’s strong season has been rewarded with four players receiving nomination for Big V awards.
Ned Weideman, Joe Davis and Josh Dow have all been nominated for the all star five, while Michael Johns is in the running for youth player of the year.
The all star five nominees make up the Warriors leadership group, the squad not going into the season with a solitary skipper as each brings different skills to the table and communicates effectively.
The trio bounce off each other and thrive on lining up together, Pakenham’s top-end talent stretching opposition defences.
“They’re starting to gel really well and understand where each other is,” said coach Rob Roberts.
Josh Dow is among the best shooters in the league, going at a two point percentage of 64 per cent and shooting his threes at 36 per cent.
“As a defensive stopper, he’s absolutely ridiculous,” Roberts said.
“We know we can put him on anybody, whether they’re a tall or a small and say ‘we need you to play a lockdown role,’ which is nice.
“As well as the natural shooting he has, even if he has a bad night, he’ll keep shooting and brings himself back into the game by getting to the basket, not just putting up those threes.
“His ability to see when things aren’t going right and do (work) defensively as well as his offensive game is fantastic.”
Davis, an import, has evolved his game this year after averaging 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists when Pakenham was in Division Two last season.
At the higher level, Roberts believes he has maintained the high bar he set for himself.
“There’s no doubt he’s one of, if not the most professional import in the league,” Roberts said.
“He grinds, grinds, grinds and gets to that point where he’s just unstoppable.
“He’s up against a lot better and bigger players this year, so he’s had to change his game a little bit to adapt to that, and bring in more movement, rather than just banging bodies, which is one of his strengths.”
Ned Weideman’s defensive game has gone to another level which has been a big reason why that element of the squad’s game has elevated.
The roles he has been able to play gives Roberts some versatility, and he has been an important source of defensive depth, able to match up on the opposition spearhead when others have been out injured.
Johns, meanwhile, took out the youth MVP last season, leading Pakenham’s youth men all the way to the grand final.
He remained eligible to play in the youth league this year, but his priority was with Roberts’ team where he was getting regular minutes, playing an important role as a scorer coming off the bench.
His skills were on display last week against Warrnambool, as he netted 14 points and five defensive rebounds in fewer than 23 minutes.
“His ability to stretch the floor for us as a shooter and then play some of those lockdown minutes as well is important,” Roberts said.
“We worked hard on our lockdown defence so ‘MJ’ has played on (RMIT danger man Stephen) Coffey and others when we’ve needed to, but it’s nice to have that second point guard who can open up the key and go to work.”
