JENNA FOUBISTER is leading the race to be named Woman of Steel after topping a list of early front-runners comprised entirely of Wigan Warriors stars.
Wigan retained the Challenge Cup at Wembley earlier this month with an emphatic 54-6 victory over St Helens in the final, of which Foubister was named player of the match.
The 19-year-old halfback featured in all five matches of their cup run, as well as helping Wigan win their opening four Super League matches.
In similar fashion to the new Man of Steel voting process, a five-strong panel debated the form of players in the opening stage of the women’s season and provided a list of leading players as an indication of who has performed well so far.
They will meet twice more, after the end of the first stage of the season (the league splits in half after seven rounds) and before the play-offs (following home-and-away fixtures among the top and bottom four), with a final winner decided after the latter.
Last year’s Woman of Steel, back-rower Eva Hunter, completes an all-Wigan top five behind loose-forward Megan Williams, winger Anna Davies and centre Georgia Wilson in second to fourth respectively.
Team-mates Isabel Rowe and Mary Coleman were also on a ten-player shortlist discussed, alongside St Helens’ Faye Gaskin, Connie Boyd of Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants’ Amelia Brown.
Leeds fullback Lachlan Miller led the Man of Steel running after the opening nine rounds, with further meetings to take place after rounds 18 (in mid-July) and 27 (ahead of the play-offs).