The Wallis Lake striker delivered a devastating performance in last weekend's Premier League grand final against Port United, scoring all three of his team's goals in regular play and firing home the winning shot in the penalty shoot-out to hand his club its fourth premiership in six years.

Fittingly, he was awarded the player of the match. Flatteringly, he was acknowledged by club mates and opponents alike as a big-game player.

Reflecting on his performance this week, he admitted it was a special day where the best elements of his game came together.

"It was just a really good day," he said.

"Winning grand finals is good, scoring goals is good, but winning man of the match makes it all worthwhile."

The sledging he copped on the day (and regularly cops) didn't bother him either, with the 33-year-old taking it as a compliment.

"When I'm playing against crowds giving me a lot of banter, I appreciate that," he said.

"It's the ultimate form of respect. They know I can be the key to the game."

Far from seeing himself as a one-man show, he admits he can be hot and cold and says the win on the weekend was very much a product of the bonds and belief that exists at Wallis Lake.

"It's a real special club," he said.

"The players are like brothers."

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Whiteman begun playing soccer when he was five-years-old with the Tuncurry Forster Football Club.

At 15, he moved over to the Great Lakes Football Club and aside from two years playing in the Newcastle Premier League, has been there ever since, playing in the Wallis Lake premier league team since its foundation 12 years ago.

A self-professed student of the game, he now passes on his knowledge and skills to the area's next generation of soccer stars with his role as a head coach at the Jeff Summers Football Academy.

With Summers serving as his coach at Wallis Lake, his employer at the Academy and his teaching colleague at Forster Public School, the pair have developed a close relationship.

"Not many players have what he has," Summers admitted.

"When he decides to turn it on he changes the whole structure of the game."

Summers said Whiteman's talent on the football field was matched by his qualities as a coach, which made him a real asset.

"He's got wonderful rapport with the kids," he said.

"He's a great role model."

Yet while Whiteman loves coaching and suggests he would like to one day do it at a high level, he has no plans to hang up his playing boots yet.

Considering the performance he just produced and the fact he remains injury-free, there seems little reason to.

"I love it," he said.

"There's nothing I'd rather be doing."

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