We've been having a discussion at home about Man of Steel now Castleford have dropped out of the play-offs. Names bandied about have been Rangi/Tomkins/Roby/M.Monas.

Now Castleford have dropped out of the top 8 is that it for Rangi's hopes of winning the MOS? It would be an achievement indeed to win it with a team that can't even make the play-offs, even though they came close.

Equally Tomkins can only have hurt his chances by being so annonymous in the recent high-profile games and his display in the CC Final.

Personally (biased as I am) I'd like to see Monas take it as he's been absolutely outstanding this year although I know Roby has been equally impressive in a not-so-brilliant Saints side.

What's everyone's opinion on it now? (Please no Sam-bashing, it's getting kinda boring)

When is it decided? Think roby is out of the race now and either of tomkins or monaghan would be worthy winners.

think roby will get it but i too hope monas gets the nod if briers hadnt of taken so long off with injury could of been his year again Rangi yeah done well in a team that has not been performing but dont rule out tomkins

I think that this years MOS should be one of four players. Two of which come for the club that I love.

If it is decided on the levels of skill a player displays during a season then it should go to either Sam Tompkins or Mike Monas.

If it is decided on who has contributed most to a team during the season then it would go to James Roby, who has at times carried Saints in a way that no other players has done for their team.

But if the vote goes to the player that has been a real Man of Steel in the true sense of the phrase then it can only be Super Ben Westwood.

Any news on his return?

he looked alright last night without crutches but still heavily strapped could see him in a few weeks for final eliminater

It's difficult choice, to be honest I'm not entirely sure what MOS is judged on.

As you say Fatbelly, if it's on the player that's made the most difference to his team then it surely must be Roby.

If you wanna look at great players but also prolific points scorers then Brett has got to be in the running again. He's been brilliant this year and you can't argue with his points tally.

For me, skill level isn't enough. There's got to be an ethic and attitude that's worthy of something like Man of Steel and, for me, Tomkins isn't there yet. His annonymity in the last few high-pressure games have been telling and he just isn't yet a true Man of Steel. I've no doubt that he will be however, just not this year.

M.Monas, as well as skill/work ethic/attitude/etc has also been a great leader on the pitch. It can only be him for mine.

In the past week I have heard two contradictory statements, firstly I was told his season is over completely and we will next see him in the P & B in 2012



Secondly I have heard that Ben himself thinks he has got a good chance of playing in the G/F if we get there.

I won't fight you on this Girl

Ben or Mick are both fully deserved winners.

I'm pretty sure all the votes have already been cast, so the fact that cas have failed to make the play-offs shouldn't affect chase's chances.

From memory of last year I think voting is over by now or very soon after the regular season is finished.

Remember that players vote for MoS these days.
It's highly unlikey that Tomkins will pick up votes due to his unpopularity amongst other players, and there is practically no chance a Wigan player will get votes from any of the Saints players.
The same goes for Roby, who will automatically lose votes from the Wigan players.
My money is on Chase as he is an inoffensive player playing for a rather well-liked team.

You couldnt be further from the truth. Sam is very popular with other players and players are unable to vote for people from their own club.

Tomkins by a country mile. No one else will be anywhere near.

Monas true model proffessional need i say anymore??

yeha shurrup nottingham tiger, shaun lunt ing loves him.

Of course he is. Rather like Gadaffi is popular in Lybia.
I know players are unable to vote for players from their own club (sure I didn't say otherwise), hence predicting that Tomkins will struggle to get enough votes.
And for the record, I think Tomkins deserves to win MoS BUT I think the current player voting system works against him.

I believe the players have the majority of votes for MOS in the current setup? If that is the case, then the current MOS award is essentially what used to be the "players' player of the year" award.

I often think MOS is a mis-named award, the wording to me implies someone who is tough, consistent, and basically a human battering ram, and as such I always envisage it being a forward who will win the award.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings ... my candidate from Wire would be Westwood ... from elsewhere, it's Roby hands down.

Who was it who made a good point, either Carney or Clarke... that most rugby players aren't going to watch many other rugby games live, so its difficult for them to judge who has had a great season.

Sam Tomins has grabbed the headlines with his imo selfish play that has led to a lot of tries behind a very dominant pack.

But M.Monaghan all round game has been far better imo, great tackler and one of the most intelligent players in SL imo.

I'm sure I read somewhere over the last couple of days that it is decided on Monday.

As it's decided by players what will they consider - who tackles the hardest consistently, who causes the most problems defensively, who reads the game the best in both attack and defence, who confuses the feck out of them the most with and without the ball???? Looking at that I can't see passed Monas and Tompkins.

After typing all that i've now thought surely they can't consider anything like that cos Richards won last year for falling over the try line the most along with superb goal kicking!!

It was Carney and I thought at the time what a good point that was. Especially since, before that Sky game had started I saw a player on Twitter saying he wasn't watching the game as he'd had enough RL for the weekend. So how much of the player's votes are influenced by what is written in the media? Or say by the comms team on the Sky games they do watch? Certainly it's not a balanced view but then it's impossible to have a balanced player-voted award as no player can watch every game. Unless you make them sit and watch videos during every week

mike monas nuff said deserves it travesty if he doesnt get it as good as tomkins,roby etc have been hes been man of the match in most pretty much all big games

So Richards won it last year for falling over the try line and for his goal kicking? As you say, the award is decided by the players of the game....they must have got it wrong hey?!!! Maybe a fairer way of doing it is to ask the sky sports viewers, after all YOU could get a vote and YOU seem to know alot more about the game than the players themselves!!!

You do realise the players watch hours of videos to scout their opponents each week don't you?

Michael Monaghan is the Best Player in this League by a distance if in this voting he is "nowhere near" Sam Tomkins then the Man of Steel award is quite frankly a sham