IT was interesting to see the nominations for the Man of Steel awards night that will be held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds tomorrow (Tuesday) night.
The Man of Steel will be awarded to one of Marc Sneyd, Mikey Lewis or Matt Dufty, who also happen to be the three players who topped the Albert Goldthorpe Medal table run by this newspaper.
That’s because the process for determining the winner is based on the same principle of weekly votes for the best players in each game.
I don’t think that’s the right way to decide who wins the Man of Steel award.
My colleague Jake Kearnan and I had a discussion on last week’s League Express Podcast on this topic.
I’ve long thought that the Man of Steel should be the player who isn’t necessarily the most skilful player, but the one who has best displayed the qualities that are associated with being a top Rugby League player.
So what are those qualities? Toughness, courage, stamina, discipline and leadership! And there are probably more besides.
But those qualities won’t necessarily earn you points on a weekly basis – they tend to go towards the halfbacks who are the game’s most creative players.
Before the voting system was changed, forwards used to win the Man of Steel award regularly. But now they hardly get a look-in.
I would like to see the process revert to what it used to be, back to the days when players like Jamie Peacock and Paul Sculthorpe could expect to walk away with the award.
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