Ahead of the 2025 Super League season, we’ve assessed the Wigan Warriors players touted for Man of Steel glory as well as those who could be considered dark horses.
Matt Peet’s side are heavy favourites to retain their Super League title with the 2024 quadruple winners actually as short as 10/1 to complete another clean sweep of the silverware.
Of course, the World Club Challenge trophy is not on offer for the Warriors this season but Wigan are still well-fancied to pick up the Challenge Cup, League Leaders Shield and the big one – the Super League Grand Final.
In each of Wigan’s 2024 finals, star man Bevan French claimed the Man of the Match award which is an incredible feat in itself and one that has seen the Australian stand-off made favourite to claim the Man of Steel award.
It’s an accolade that he collected in 2023 but Wigan’s number six didn’t crack the final three in 2024, likely on account of the handful of games he missed through injury.
Looking ahead to 2025 and we’ve assessed French’s chances and those of his Wigan Warriors teammates.
Which Wigan Warriors players could be crowned Super League Man of Steel?
All odds are taken from Super League sponsors Betfred unless otherwise stated.
Bevan French – 7/1
Starting with the market leader and the face of Super League. It’s easy to see why French is touted to repeat his 2023 success given his knack of both turning up in the big games whilst also operating week in and week out at the elite level.
In just 18 regular season games in 2024, French bagged 16 tries and 14 assists making him one of just five players to tally double digits in both metrics. With Wigan remaining unchanged in their backs for 2025, you can expect him to slide straight back into his ridiculously high level of performance.
Junior Nsemba – 12/1
Last year’s Super League Young Player of the Year, Junior Nsemba is the most talked about English player since another young Wigan Warriors star burst onto the scene over a decade ago in Sam Tomkins.
Whilst Nsemba and Tomkins are positionally so different, the 20-year-old second-rower is just as exciting with his dynamic and explosive play style making him must watch. What is both scary and incredible about Nsemba is that he has just 39 Super League appearances to his name yet he’s arguably the best player in his position already. It’s also worth noting that the market for Nsemba opened at 25/1 but has been slashed to less than half the price in just a over a week of betting.
Forwards don’t often win the Man of Steel crown with the last forward (who wasn’t a hooker) to win coming in 2008. Perhaps the only reason why Nsemba may not be the man to break that streak is because one of his Wigan Warriors’ teammates beats him to the punch.
Jai Field – 16/1
Another of those who is a relatively short price to claim the award is full-back Jai Field with the Australian seemingly back to his best at the end of 2024 after an injury-hit couple of seasons.
Field’s pace is electric and that is an attribute that always helps to capture the attention of those Man of Steel voters given how it allows for dynamic plays to be made. Arguably, most of Field’s dynamic plays come defensively with the Australian really rounding out his defensive game of late, however, 12 assists and over 2,300 metres made in 2024 says a lot about his attacking prowess too.
Liam Marshall – 50/1 (Sky Bet)
In terms of a real dark horse, Liam Marshall could be the guy. In the same vein of forwards rarely winning the award, wingers are only named Man of Steel once in a blue moon. Wigan’s Pat Richards was the last man to claim the award but the Irish international did score a mammoth 462 points in all competitions that year.
Marshall won’t be reaching those figures but he has cleared 100 points through tries alone in the last two seasons and another step forward could see him enter the 30+ try mark on the season. He’s been bolstered by a thoroughly deserved England call-up and should Wigan find themselves in tight games, which could happen given the improvements of those around them, then the winning try scorer is often given the nod for Man of the Match and in turn Man of Steel points.
