Super League will this week unveil its radical plans for the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel award in 2019 – with a panel of around 15 former players and coaches set to take control of the voting process for the sport’s highest individual accolade.
League Express revealed recently how, as part of Robert Elstone’s ambitious plans to revolutionise the image of Super League, the Man of Steel was set for an overhaul to try and make it a season-long process with proper prominence.
And League Express now understands that over a dozen ex-players and coaches have been approached to be part of a new-look panel.
In a similar theme to the way the Dally M award is operated in the NRL, the panel will each be allocated Super League games on a rolling basis and will be asked to rank the three best players in their respective matches.
In documentation sent to the panel members that have been approached, it says: “Super League is appointing other respected and authoritative individuals like yourself to select the Man of Steel.
“We will announce the panel publicly but do not intend to reveal which panel member has awarded the points for each individual game. Our intention is to promote the leaderboard as widely as possible to stimulate debate and discussion across the Super League fan base.”
Much like the Dally M, the voting process will be made public throughout, and the leaderboard updated on a weekly basis – up until the final weeks of the season, when the voting system will go dark so as to add mystery to whom the eventual winner of the award is.
That is in contrast to League Express’ Albert Goldthorpe Medal; which follows a similar 3-2-1 voting system, but is public through to the end of the season.
