The loss of Deacon meant we SHOULD have moved Sam to 6 where he would still get the ball. But we moved Lockers there which meant that we struggled to get the ball into positions where Sam could have an impact.

McGuire and Westwood are a bit unlucky, but McGuire didn't get in the dream team ahead of Sam so it shouldn't be expected that he'd get MOS ahead of him I suppose.

All worthy winners imo.

Because i don't think he's a M.O.S the same as i thought Hodgeson last year and the year Roby won it.
Richards i can see why he was nominated same with Morley i don't think "Golden boy" Tompkins shouild of made the short list simples.

The players who voted for him obviously do.

Is it time to change the title (given that I don't think Trumans Steel is involved in the award any more!) to something more appropriate like SL Player's Player of the Year?

It would make sense. Man Of Steel lends itself towards Morley/Peacock type players. Man of elastic would be more suitable for Tomkins I think.

They just want an even bigger head to aim at!

Tomkins - one trick pony but at the same time special talent, no doubt.

Morley for me.

And yes I agree the 'Man of Steel' has become an outdated title for the SL Player Of The Year.

Don't doubt he has talent but i don't think he's a M.O.S.
Fully agree with your last sentence.

Have they voted yet? I thought the players picked from the shortlist.

They should have Man of Steel for forward of the year, another for back of the year. And then an overall player of the year.

I don't agree with the "one trick pony" stuff levelled at Tomkins. People on here shudder when McGuire is labelled as such and Tomkins has as many assists as him this year.

The try he laid on with a couple of dummies then a cut out pass just last weekend was very good. He's shown he can be very dangerous from full back or stand off. He's got a very good short kicking game IMO (set up lots of tries with it last season when he was Wigan's go to kicker) and is still only young.

He's a cracking player I reckon, and it's not all down to a sidestep.

The original concept of the 'Man Of Steel' was to recognise the player or person who had had the biggest impact on the game from the winners of the various categories.

The Man Of Steel could in theory have been the young player of the year, the coach of the year or even the referee of the year.

Thankfully we've at least moved away from that possibility.

Wind ups aside, I'm forced to agree.

i think tomkins is geting a bit too big headed. i would like to see morley get it, i think he is a great player, a natural (and great) leader and a true gentleman of the pitch too. great ambassador for the game.

Should be seperate awards . Player Of The Year (most influential) , and Man Of Steel ( hardest barsteward ).
The title of MOS suggests a big hard , black boot-wearing 'lad' , when in fact it could be a biscuit-boned pink boot-wearing wuss that wins it .

Morley, Not even best player in a warrington shirt this year


Tomkins, Hold onto peoples arms, good one week crap the next


Richards, Chokes in big games when his good kicking is most needed,




My Nominations are

Mcguire, King, Chase

Obviously I'm inherently biased, but I think Roby has been the best player in SL this season.

McGuire and Chase would both have been worthy nominees, not sure about King.

Robys had a cracking season as well, but the two main inspiritational players for the top of the league side have been Tomkins and Richards (probably Lockers as well, but his form has dropped a little).

Tomkins has torn teams apart single handedly this season, and hasn't really had a bad game (he's been quiet, but never come up with huge errors).

Richards is just the epitomy of consistency, you give him the ball and 9/10 he'll score, he makes huge metres taking the ball up early in the set and is fantastic under the high ball.

You could maybe say that Richards, Moz + Roby would have been a better shortlist, but I think Sams had a quality year, he's become a lot more rounded than last year when it was just all about the step.

The Most Feared Man In Super League has a certain ring to it.

It never seems to count for much when Leeds top the league. Must be a Lancashire (Greater Manchester, Merseyside etc) type of thing.

Its probably been unfortunate that a Leeds player hasn't won it before now. Can't really see a reason why, except perhaps (I dont particularly subscribe to this thought but anyway) its been a pretty well known fact you have the strongest and most balanced squad in the league for many years, and part of the reason for your success is that most of the team performed consistently well and relied less on individual performances to win games.

Sinfield is probably the key man for you, but as good as he is has he been deserving of MOS? Peacock would be the obvious one as well, I struggle to see why he hasn't been close to it before.

Fair comments.

(Just to say though that Leeds have provided three Men Of Steel with David Ward the inaugural winner in 1977, Garry Schofield in 1991 and they have even had one during the SL Era with Iestyn Harris in 1998.)

4 SL Championships to 1 Man Of Steel winners.

Oh well, thems the breaks.

Leeds had about 3 or 4 players in 04 more deserving than Farrell, Sinfield should've won it in 05, and I think he would've done had he not injured his wrist (?) in July.

Probably biased here, but the fact you say 3 or 4 players could have won it from Leeds probably tells the story. Farrell carried the entire Wigan team completely alone.