The Super League Man of Steel nominees will be announced on Wednesday afternoon with Jake Connor a likely frontrunner, but who could challenge him?
Signed by Leeds Rhinos ahead of the season, Jake Connor has had a stunning debut season at Headingley and that has seen him earn Super League Dream Team honours with a Man of Steel nod still a possibility.
Three players will be shortlisted on Wednesday afternoon and it’s hard to imagine that Connor, who led the Super League Man of Steel shortlist before it went dark mid-season, won’t be one of those three.
He’s carried his first-half season form into the second half, playing in all but the final two games as Leeds kicked on to finish fourth in Super League.
Incredibly, the Rhinos haven’t had a men’s Super League Man of Steel winner since Zak Hardaker in 2015 with Iestyn Harris in 1998 the last before that.
Ahead of the shortlist being confirmed, we’ve looked at who could be up against the Man of Steel favourite Jake Connor.
Who could join Jake Connor on the Super League Man of Steel shortlist?
Lachie Miller (Leeds Rhinos)
Arguably the biggest challenge could be Lachie Miller given the way the Man of Steel points system works, whereby the top players in each match earn one, two, or three points per game.
Miller had an incredible second half of the season and did feature inside the top ten when the Man of Steel leaderboard went dark, however, a Super League Dream Team snub may suggest that he’s not quite done enough.
Lachlan Lam (Leigh Leopards)
Another man who was snubbed from the Super League Dream Team was Lachlan Lam despite his incredible 41 assists, the most-ever in a 27-game season. He’s since been named the Rugby League Writers and Brodcasters Association Player of the Year, beating out Connor to that award.
One problem is that he only had seven Man of Steel points when the leaderboard when dark, leaving him a huge 14 points behind Connor. Despite that, his consistency across the season has been on a par with the Leeds Rhinos man and he’s arguably even more central to Leigh’s success than Connor is to Leeds’.
Jai Field (Wigan Warriors)
The man who got into the Dream Team ahead of Lachie Miller is Jai Field and with 24 tries (2nd in Super League) and 21 assists (8th in Super League), it’s hard to argue why. The speedy Australian ate up the metres as he cleared 3,000, ranking tenth in the competition.
He’s looked even better with Bevan French back in the side with the pair complimenting each other and Field, a previous Man of Steel nominee, could see his name called again.
Morgan Knowles (St Helens)
A left-field and admittedly unlikely challenger is St Helens’ Morgan Knowles but he has been the standout forward in Super League this season, though he’d have to break a near-20-year trend to be crowned Man of Steel.
Whilst several hookers have won the award since, the last out-and-out forward, or middle, was James Graham in 2008 with no loose forward taking the crown since Paul Sculthorpe in 2002 and Scully was also adept in the halves.
Sadly though with zero Man of Steel points when the leaderboard went dark, it’s almost impossible to imagine the Saints man getting a nomination, despite his incredible season.
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