WIGAN WARRIORS team-mates Brad O’Neill and Adam Keighran, alongside Leeds Rhinos fullback Lachlan Miller, have been shortlisted for the 2026 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel award.

The winner will be announced at Rugby League’s Awards Night in Manchester on Tuesday 29 September.

O’Neill has already claimed the Rugby League Writers and Broadcasters Association (RLWBA) Player of the Year award, having helped fire Wigan to the League Leaders’ Shield, the Challenge Cup and within 80 minutes of the Grand Final.

He has already earned a place in the Super League Dream Team and is in pole position to book a seat on the flight to Australia with Brian McDermott’s England World Cup squad next month.

He has featured in two of the three selections made by the Man of Steel panel members Ellery Hanley, Paul Sculthorpe, Joe Lydon, James Roby and Sam Tomkins, to consider the leading performers from each block of the season.

Australian fullback Miller has been in the Man of Steel conversation since the opening weeks of the season, when he came out on top in the panel’s first vote after the opening nine rounds.

He made 166 tackle busts this season before his hamstring injury in the Rhinos’ recent game against Wigan and so misses out on Friday’s semi-final against Warrington Wolves.

Australian centre Keighran took top spot when the panellists assessed performances from Round 19 to Round 27.

He finished the regular campaign with 16 tries and 107 goals, but he has also forged a classy partnership with free-scoring winger Zach Eckersley.

Panel members included everyone who had picked up top-five finishes to form the basis of their deliberations for their final three-man shortlist.

A final Man of Steel: The Panel show detailing how they decided on the eventual winner to be aired on Wednesday September 30th.

The full list of contenders was Miller, Jake Connor, Ash Handley and Brodie Croft (all Leeds), Wigan’s O’Neill, Keighran, Bevan French and Jai Field, Jez Litten and Tyrone May (both Hull KR), Leigh Leopards centre Umyla Hanley and St Helens hooker Daryl Clark.