How is it being worked out this year? The leader board (link below) https://www.superleague.co.uk/man-of-steel/leaderboard Yet there’s media reports of a 5 man shortlist Sezer Coote McShane French Farrell https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fi ... eel-award/

How is it being worked out this year? The leader board (link below) https://www.superleague.co.uk/man-of-steel/leaderboard Yet there’s media reports of a 5 man shortlist Sezer Coote McShane French Farrell https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/fi ... eel-award/

Same way as last year with points throughout the season based on performance. They tend to hide the scores for the last few rounds though.

The system isn’t working for me. We’re basically going to get the stand out player in a reasonable team winning it every year as they have little competition for game points within their team. The leagues best player this season has been Bevan French without any shadow of a doubt IMO but he has to scrap for points with Faz, Hastings and so on, so it becomes next to impossible to win it for a player in a top side, who have a few standouts.

This is what you’re left with when you give the vote to the players and a reasonable percentage of them make a mockery of it with joke votes.

Agree 100% mate.

At the very least play-off games should count so the players from the top clubs are rewarded by getting some extra points.

I've thought since its inception that the flaws were clear for all to see. I'm not entirely sure who came up with this format but clear thinking wasn't their strong point. It's a totally unbalanced way to do it. An average player in a poor match can get the same 3 points as an outstanding player in the match of the season.

If they're insistent on using this system, although in all honesty I'm not sure why they would be, then the final five nominees need to have final judgement by the panel of judges who could then take an overview of the season.

The Aussies have decided the Dally M this way for years.

There will always be those who disagree with the way it's decided, but for me the players vote was the best one.

The press one is most prone to failure IMO although I'm not sure I disagreed too often with the winner. You see it with a MOM vote though when a winger wins it because he scored a hat-trick when all he has had to do is catch the ball, his centre that has put him away three times or the guy in the middle that got the better of his opposite number to lay the platform rarely gets the credit. Sky giving it to French against Saints for example. Some players will always be built up by the press because they do the spectacular.

For me, go back to the player vote but do it after every game. Each player names their MOM from the opposing team.

I agree that this format isn't the best way. As you say, the Dally M seems to attract little in the way of criticism. For the most part the correct decisions are made. Maybe that's the model we need to go by.

The players vote wasn't great in my opinion. Too many voting for their mates. It all got a bit silly. It was easy to see vested interest votes being cast too. I remember looking at the list that was posted and just laughing at some of the voting. I think Dom Crosby voting for Jack Hughes was a good example of this.

This is the Dally M way.


I also think if we had a weekly players vote there would be less instances of them voting for their mates.

It works for the Aussies because most teams have multiple players who pick up points in the voting. Here we’ve got stuck in a rut of Huddersfield win, so it’s 3 points for Sezer, Cas win and it’s 3 points for McShane. Who else on those two sides is going to stop those two guys picking up regular points? Last season Hastings said he felt Lomax had out performed him and whilst I didn’t really agree, it was a landslide for Hastings because if Salford won, he’d get 3 points more often than not. Saints win and Lomax may get 3 but then so could Roby, so could Coote, Walmsley, Thompson etc.

It just doesn’t work in superleague IMO.

thats because there isnt a bit gulf between the aussie teams in terms of class

I thought that too so why is Bevan French on a 5 man short list when he’s 10th on the points list and Sam Tomkins not on the shortlist when he’s 5th?

Its been Alex Walmsley according to some

In fairness he’s a player that proves the argument that the system is totally flawed. He’s been in the top five without any shadow of a doubt yet isn’t nominated. He isn’t nominated because Saints have the best player in superleague in every position according to some guys on RedVee, so he can’t possibly get enough points as they’ll be shared around that team of legends.

Ok the last bit was a joke but the point stands.

I agree with what you said although I don’t think French has even been our best player, he does exiting things nobody else in the league does but for me Farrell has been our best player and I think Walmsley has probably been the best player in the league imo.

I think that would be my top 3 and it could be in any order (although I think French has added something a bit special to our side that nobody else in the league has to their teams) but I think we’ll see Sezer win it, McShane 2nd and then probably Faz 3rd looking at the points before it went behind closed doors.

It sort of sums up how the whole game is run. It’s like a primary school sports day wanting to give everyone a chance.