After winning the 2019 Grand Final weekend MVP honours Shawn Russel of the Wollongong Rollerhawks has not skipped a beat and has earned the 2021 Round 1 Player of the Week award.
Shawn’s performances across the weekend helped the Rollerhawks to clean sweep their matches across the weekend and starting their season with a 4-0 run.
Shawn opened his weekend up in style dropping his first double-double of the weekend snaring 19 points 15 rebounds and 5 assists against potential contenders Queensland Spinning Bullets on the Friday night.
Saturday saw the Rollerhawks take on the Australian Spinners and the Perth Wheelcats. Shawn bettered his performance notching his second double-double of the weekend against the Spinners, 23 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. Perth the perennial defensive powerhouses tightened the screws on Shawn keeping him to 8 points and 9 assists. Shifting his focus Shawn adjusted his game defensively, dragging in an enormous 11 defensive rebounds and opening opportunities for his teammates to secure the win for the Rollerhawks.
Backing up for the teams fourth game of the weekend the team again put in a huge effort lead by Shawn who bounced back with his third double-double of the weekend adding 24 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists, putting on a clinic in Sundays rematch against Perth.
It looks like Shawn has thrown down the gauntlet and put the competition on notice on what it will take to be a MVP contender this season.
