The Outstanding Contribution to Victorian Sport Award is the most prestigious honour bestowed at the Victorian Sport Awards, presented to an individual in recognition of outstanding achievement in and/or contribution to, sport in Victoria.
One of Australia’s most successful, durable and ruthless netballers who won two World Championships, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and six Australian netball Championships across a 16-year playing career, this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Victorian Sport Award is Sharelle McMahon.
Scouted by the Victorian Institute of Sport, Sharelle moved from her home town of Bamawm, just south of Echuca, to Melbourne when she was offered a scholarship at the age of 16.
Rising rapidly through the junior ranks, she first represented her country for the Under-21 national team in 1996 before enjoying immediate success with the Australian Diamonds when she debuted in 1998. At the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur that year, Australia won gold with Sharelle serving as the youngest member of the team.
The following year, New Zealand hosted the World Netball Championship and met Australia in the final. The Diamonds trailed by six points at three-quarter time but clawed their way back to tie the scores inside the final minute. Then, on the last play of the game, Sharelle had the ball in the circle before inching closer to the ring with a quick give-and-go. This ensured that her shot sailed through the net as time expired and her match-winner secured Australia’s third consecutive World Championship title.
Three years later, the Trans-Tasman rivals met again in the gold medal match of the Manchester Commonwealth Games. Unable to be separated at the end of regulation nor after 14 minutes of extra time, the decider went to sudden death and Sharelle was again the heroine for the Diamonds, netting the goal that put them the required two points up and again leading Australia to the top of the medal dais.
Overall, Sharelle’s international career included two World Championship gold medals and one silver as well as two gold and two silver Commonwealth Games medals. She captained the team on twelve occasions, scored 2,520 goals and finished as the second most-capped Australian player with 118 games.
At the 2010 Commonwealth Games where she captained, Sharelle created history as Australia’s first team player to be named flag-bearer for the Opening Ceremony. Her achievements did not end after retirement either, becoming the first netballer, and just the third female athlete in Melbourne, immortalised in bronze when her statue was unveiled in 2023 at John Cain Arena.
That honour came on the back of an equally brilliant domestic career which started with a Premiership for the Melbourne Phoenix in her debut season. As a prominent offensive threat playing goal attack or goal shooter, she helped them become the competition’s most dominant force. The Phoenix won five Premierships in total between 1997-2007 with Sharelle captaining four of those seasons while also claiming four Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards.
In 2007, the Phoenix and Melbourne Kestrels merged to form the Melbourne Vixens and Sharelle was named the team’s inaugural captain. An outstanding 2009 campaign saw the Vixens lose just one game all season on their way to the Championship with Sharelle winning the Grand Final MVP. She also won back-to-back club MVP’s in 2009 and 2010, an award which is now named in her honour.
Sharelle’s durability was tested when she ruptured her Achilles in 2011 and she then took time off for the birth of her son. She returned for one last season in 2013 though, finishing her career with over 200 national league games.
Now a mother of two, Sharelle’s post-playing career has included roles as Assistant Coach for the Vixens, helping them to another Championship in 2020, broadcaster and commentator and Head of Women’s Cricket at Cricket Victoria. Currently she serves as General Manager of High Performance and Pathways at Netball Victoria where she supports netballers’ development and progression from grassroots through to the professional level as well as managing pathway development for up-and-coming coaches, umpires and bench officials.
Sharelle McMahon says:
“Receiving this award is both humbling and deeply meaningful. Sport has shaped who I am, challenged me to grow and connected me with exceptional people along the way.
“I’m extremely thankful for everyone who has supported me throughout my career and continues to inspire my contribution to high performance sport.”
The Hon. Ros Spence, Minister for Community Sport says:
“Sharelle McMahon is a true legend of Australian sport with a long list of outstanding achievements on and off the netball court.
“This award is a chance to celebrate one of our state’s greatest homegrown netball talents—an inspiring leader who has helped pave the way for the next generation to thrive in one of Australia’s most popular team sports.
“Sharelle is a thoroughly deserving winner of this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Victorian Sport Award.”
In addition to this accolade, Sharelle was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2016 and the Netball Australia Hall of Fame in 2019.
By VICSPORT
