ST HELENS’ England star Jack Welsby has been voted the Super League Player of the Year by League Express readers.
He follows in the footsteps of last year’s winner, Catalans Dragons’ Sam Tomkins, after earning 37.8% of readers’ votes.
Welsby beat runner-up Brodie Croft of Salford Red Devils, who gained 30.1%, and the Wigan Warriors pair of Jai Field and Bevan French, who came third and fourth respectively, with Tomkins in fifth place.
Welsby also was voted the Super League Young Player of the Year by a larger margin, picking up 61.1% of the vote and leaving the four other nominees trailing in his wake.
But, uniquely for a Player of the Year, Welsby failed to earn a spot in the League Express Team of the Year. Nominated for the stand-off position, he collected 41.7% of the vote, compared to Salford’s Croft, who gained 43.8%.
In three new categories, Josh Addo-Carr and Ali Brigginshaw (both Australia) were voted to be the male and female players of the World Cup, while Jack Brown (England) won the vote as the Player of the Wheelchair World Cup.
The League Express Team of the Year, which comprises those Super League players who earned the largest votes in each category, has seven St Helens players.
The full team is: Jai Field (Wigan), Tommy Makinson (St Helens), Tim Lafai (Salford), Konrad Hurrell (St Helens), Bevan French (Wigan), Brodie Croft (Salford), Jonny Lomax (St Helens), Alex Walmsley (St Helens), James Roby (St Helens), Mikolaj Oledzki (Leeds), Joe Batchelor (St Helens), Liam Farrell (Wigan), Morgan Knowles (St Helens).
