By IAN JUDSON
WHO are these legends of the game kidding? Or more to the point, who is really controlling the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel voting?
For those following at home, the judging panel of Ellery Hanley, Paul Sculthorpe, Sam Tomkins, James Roby and Joe Lydon have named their latest shortlist for the Man Of Steel and it is: Jake Connor, Ash Handley, Lachie Miller, Brad O’Neill, Umyla Hanley, Maika Sivo, Olly Ashall-Bott, Daryl Clark, Mikey Lewis, Tyrone May.
When you have genuine rugby league royalty on your Man of Steel voting panel, you expect – and indeed have absolutely every right to expect – extremely knowledgeable opinion about who are the 10 best players in the Betfred Super League competition.
Unfortunately, that clearly isn’t the case here, because some of the names that are in this shortlist are clearly only there on reputation. Given than the voting process is the subject of a Sky programme, The Panel, one might question the importance of “star power” to such a format.
I am going to make absolutely no apology for this: there are clearly players in this shortlist who should not be anywhere near it, while other, better performing players have obviously been sacrificed to keep them in it. I believe the interests of the TV show may have come to count for more than the interests of the process.
Imagine the shock myself and others at seeing on the list Lewis, a player who has had a rotten middle third of the season and crowned it with a big ban, for two separate incidents in a heavy defeat at Warrington on Saturday. I know I’m not an ex professional player but surely to God anybody can see that he is absolutely nowhere near his best and should not be in this list.
Nor should his halfback partner May who has spent the last nine rounds looking like a shadow of his former self, a former self what was on the opening shortlist.
Another name that shocked me in there was Leeds fullback Miller, a player who missed a third of this chunk of the season with a three-match ban, which should have immediately put him behind the eight ball. He isn’t even the best fullback in Super League at the moment, as many will attest to the current form of Toulouse Olympique man Ashall-Bott, who also makes the list.
Other names that seem to have been sacrificed to keep, for instance, Clark in the mix despite injury, include Wakefield Trinity props Caleb Hamlin-Uele and Mike McMeeken and the obvious big miss is Wigan back-row forward Junior Nsemba.
It has to be said that they have got some right, with the likes of current MoS Jake Connor and Leeds co-captain Ash Handley in the mix now, along with try-scoring machine Maika Sivo. However, with some of the names included, it just feels rather like it has devalued the competition with all things considered.
I am, of course, fully aware that the names I have mentioned here were in the original line-up. But my understanding here, unless somebody can tell me different, is that the shortlist this time is meant to be based on what these players did in rounds 10 to 18 and nothing else, hence my genuine shock and anger at this shortlist.
We now know in rounds 20 to 23 that 2024 winner Lewis will be missing, which I would suggest should put him even further down the pecking order. And trust me, I know certain Hull KR fans who also agree with me that he shouldn’t be in the list due to poor form.
My other worry here is: what sort of a message does this genuinely shocking list send out regarding the most high profile player award our sport has? Does anybody agree with me that, potentially, it could just be a case of, you’re only in with a chance of winning it, if your face fits with certain broadcasters/sponsors?
Answers on a postcard, please!
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