Pakenham’s Aaron Small took out the Grand Final MVP for his role in the Warriors 93-71 triumph over Ballarat at Cardinia Life on Saturday night.
Small finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals, particularly influential in the first half as Pakenham opened up a match-winning lead.
“He was unbelievable all game and particularly early,” coach Braden Venning said.
“He had a point to prove early on, he was going straight at the rim, getting open shots everywhere.
“It felt like he barely missed a shot.
“He orchestrates our offence. He’s a hard guy to guard.
“He does everything for us.”
It continued a trend of excellent finals performances for Small, who had 25 points and six rebounds in the semi final against McKinnon after an equal game-high 16 points in the first final against Camberwell.
At the business end of the season, Small always stood up when his team needed points or a big play.
“We’ve known this all year, his stats for the full year might not be the highest on the team but we’ve always known that in those big moments against the big teams, he’s the guy who steps up,” captain Kaleb Beveridge said.
“And he’s so deserving of the MVP award, I’m so proud of him.
“I think back to when I played with him at u18s, he was a role player coming off the bench and now he’s coming into a star.
“Next year, I’m so excited to see what he does.”
Small indicated that while not an ultimate goal, the accolade was a nice achievement and a result of his increasing self-belief.
“Taking the next step up to Youth League 1, you have to play that little bit different to youth two,” Small said.
“It was a work in progress to start the year but I feel like through effort and training, my confidence grew and it showed in games as well.
“My shots were dropping at the right time of year so I couldn’t be happier.”
