Albert Goldthorpe Medal winner Brodie Croft has made the three-player shortlist for this year’s Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel Award.
Alongside Salford Red Devils’ stand-off Croft (above) are Jai Field of Wigan Warriors and Jack Welsby of St Helens.
Voting for the Man of Steel Award is carried out each week of the regular season by a panel of former players who award 3, 2 and 1 point to the three best performers in each match.
Croft appeared in all but one of Salford’s league games this season and his standout performances and leadership in the middle coupled with 25 assists and 7 tries saw him capture the headlines in a Salford team that was unfancied at the start of the season.
Field (above) has regularly proved he can break a defence in a split second and sprint away for a try. He registered the highest recorded speed of any player this season, clocking a massive 36.1 km/h against Hull KR.
Following an injury plagued season in 2021, Field’s partnership with Bevan French has been a highlight of the Warriors’ team this season and has kept fans on the edge of their seats.
Before voting went dark after Round 15, Field was the early season leader in the Man of Steel standings picking up a remarkable six 3-pointers in the opening 10 games.
Field’s 20 tries and 24 assists this season alongside his top speed achievement shows he poses a threat at from anywhere on the field at any point of the game.
At just 21, Welsby (above) has firmly cemented himself as one of the first names on Kristian Woolf’s teamsheet.
Key pieces of individual skill, including assist hat-tricks against both Hull teams and a match winning field-goal against Wakefield Trinity, meant that Welsby was firmly at the centre of everything happening at St Helens.
An impressive 27 assists, just six behind stat leader Jake Connor, alongside 12 tries saw Welsby have a hand in over a third of all tries scored by Saints in the 2022 season.
