I owuldnt back against Sam to be honest.

I agree - there will be plenty of times this year when oppo players will have come away thinking "wow, Sam Tomkins ripped us apart today".

Not sure any player would really come away from a game thinking the same about Richards.

The Wire forum would explode if that happened

Richards at 10/11 with Hills is surely buying money? The other 2 aren't even close as far as I'm concerned.

That's a very good point.

I must admit, until the announcement the other day, it never really entered my head that Sam might be in contention for Man of Steel.

It's certainly a good point that players who have just been run ragged by him could give him their vote. But if that was the case, I think it would be a mistake.

Sam, though devastating at times, is still learning and has been far from perfect this season. Take last Sunday, for example. He scored two blinders, but could have won the game for us if he'd let the ball go more. The one time he passed out wide, we strolled in.

Pat Richards isn't perfect either, but from a Wigan perspective, you'd have to put his average performance at something like 9/10 minimum. I reckon Sam would be more like 7/10.

That said, Morley is a serious challenger - not least because, as someone else said, I do think the sentimental vote will count for something.

I think Richards falls more into the traditional 'Man of Steel' image a lot more than Sam. He manages to score impossible tries through pure upper body strength. The Salford away game was a tough close match and Pat scored two tries that most other players wouldn't have because they would have been untangling themselves from the advertising hoardings.

Richards deserves it by some disntance, Morley 2nd and Sam 3rd. I've got a feeling Moz might win it though. It's a players vote and a lot of players won't like voting for a winger as their MOS.

It has to be Richards. Tomkins hasn't done enough to justify the tag and Morley is way past his best - not even the best prop in SL.

I think the players vote is the most fair, as they tend to see a bigger range of contenders (obviously), playing a different team each week.
They also know which players are genuinely tough to play against and which just butcher .
For Saints, who I've obviously seen the most of, Roby has been outstanding - literally being all things to all men. He's not only regulary switched between hooker and back row, being one of our most dangerous players from either, whether scooting/passing from dummy half or running angles and taking in drives. He's also been arguably our top defender and has filled in at the centre position and even wing (and not just done a job, looked good).

You have to be in it to win it.

Adrian Morley.

Did nowt tonight.

I agree and for me Pat Richards should get MOS.(God that hurt).

Worst i have seen him play for a while, could probably say that about all the Wire team though

Morley shouldn't even be second.