WHAT IS THE MAN OF STEEL?
The Man of Steel Award is the highest and most prestigious individual honour in the Betfred Super League, which recognises the best player of the season.
The first award was first introduced in 1977.
The Man of Steel has been presented at the end of every season since, and ahead of the 2014 Super League, was renamed in tribute to the former St Helens, Hull, Wakefield, England and Ireland full-back, Steve Prescott MBE.
Prescott responded inspirationally to the diagnosis of a rare form of stomach cancer in 2006, and raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity before his death at the age of 39 in November 2013.
WHO IS THE CURRENT MAN OF STEEL?
Jake Connor is the reigning Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel.
The influential Leeds Rhinos stand-off and goalkicker was recognised for his contribution to a huge improvement in performances at AMT Headingley in 2025, as Brad Arthur’s team climbed from eighth in the table in 2024 to a fourth-placed finish – the club’s best since 2017.
He became the first Leeds Rhinos player to be crowned Man of Steel since Zak Hardaker in 2015, and only the fourth in the 48 years since David Ward was the inaugural winner in 1977.
How is the Man of Steel Award decided?
In 2026, a new and refreshed format for awarding the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel will be introduced.
The Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel will pick the brains of five legendary former winners to help crown the victor in 2026.
Rugby league icons Ellery Hanley MBE, Joe Lydon, Paul Sculthorpe MBE, James Roby and Sam Tomkins have accepted invites to take part in the detailed analysis towards selecting the winner of the prestigious award.
The new-look five-man panel will meet on three separate occasions throughout the season to evaluate the competition’s leading performers.
Hanley, Sculthorpe, Lydon, Roby and Tomkins will together assess candidates after Round 9 (April 26), Round 18 (July 12) and the final Round 27 (September 11).
Following each meeting a shortlist of the leading performers from that block of games will be publicly announced.
At the end of the regular campaign, the panel will meet again to draw together a final shortlist for the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel and begin deliberations on the eventual outcome.
The panel will have scope to adopt a holistic approach to ascertaining who is the best player of the Super League season, taking into account not just individual performance data such as assists, tries scored and metres made but leadership, consistency and game-defining moments in both defence and attack.
The leaderboard will be available after Round 9...
