Albert Goldthorpe Medal race heats up ahead of the Super 8s

The staggering race for the Albert Goldthorpe Medal looks certain to go down to the wire, with just two points separating the top five stars in the hunt.

While the chase for top spot in Super League is incredibly tight, with Warrington just one point behind joint leaders Hull FC and Wigan, it can’t match the closeness of the prestigious award, with a number of players jostling for position in their attempts to eventually be named the Super League’s best player by League Express reporters.

Every week, the paper’s reporters assign points to the best three players in each match, with three points going to the star player, which filters down to the third best getting one point.

And a simply captivating race for the award has left three players all joint top after 22 rounds. Catalans’ Todd Carney, defending champion Luke Gale and Widnes’ Rhys Hanbury currently top the table with 19 points, with Chris Sandow (18) and Marc Sneyd (17) in hot pursuit.

Unfortunately, two of the top 12 in the standings will miss out on the award, with Salford’s duo of Rob Lui and Gareth O’Brien unable to amass any further points after this weekend with the Red Devils dropping into the Super 8s.

However, it does very little to take away from the excitement that will take place in the final eight rounds of action, with the likes of Luke Walsh, Jacob Miller and Daryl Clark also chasing the front-runners.

Current Albert Goldthorpe Medal standings

Todd Carney (Catalans) 19

Luke Gale (Castleford) 19

Rhys Hanbury (Widnes) 19

Chris Sandow (Warrington) 18

Marc Sneyd (Hull FC) 17

Robert Lui (Salford) 16

Luke Walsh (St Helens) 16

Jacob Miller (Wakefield) 15

Daryl Clark (Warrington) 13

Gareth Ellis (Hull FC) 13

Gareth O’Brien (Salford) 13

Denny Solomona (Castleford) 13

The end of the season promises to be thrilling and this is another reason to get excited.