The shortlist for the most prestigious individual honour in Super League was announced on Wednesday the 23rd of September. The winner of the 2026 Man of Steel will be revealed on the 29th of the month, and the three men in contention are drawn from the two sides that finished top of the table during the regular season.
Brad O’Neill and Adam Keighran, both from Wigan Warriors, who won the League Leaders’ Shield, plus Leeds Rhinos fullback Lachie Miller have been nominated. Leeds’ Jake Connor, who won the award last year, missed the cut, and so for the fifth year in a row we will see a new player’s name on the trophy.
The Contenders
Five former winners of the award whittled an initial 12 longlisted players down to the final three. Ellery Hanley, the record-winner of the Man of Steel, having been honoured three times, was joined by two-time winners Paul Skulthorpe and Sam Tomkins, as well as James Roby and Joe Lydon.
The quintet of rugby league greats got together three times throughout the season, listing five players each time who excelled in the first nine games of the campaign, plus the next nine and then the final nine. 12 players featured, with the final three joined by Umyla Hanley (Ellery’s son), Jez Litten, Tyrone May, Brodie Croft, Daryl Clark, Ash Handley, Jai Field and Bevan French.
Two players in particular may feel a little aggrieved at not making the final shortlist. Hanley was one of just three players to be named twice over the three playing windows, with O’Neill and Miller the other two. Keighran only made the grade for the final nine matches, but perhaps there was a degree of recency bias, or extra weighting given to the more important part of the season.
The defending Man of Steel, Jake Connor, may also wonder why he missed out. He was brilliant for a free-scoring Leeds side and registered a massive 43 assists over the course of the campaign. The next-best was just 29, while Connor was also the leading points scorer and goal scorer.
Another area of contention arises because, as with many awards in various sports, the Man of Steel prize is handed out before the season is complete. The semi-finals are about to take place and we could yet see Wigan face Leeds in the Grand Final at Old Trafford on the 3rd of October. Any one (or more!) of the nominated trio (or even someone else) could yet produce two magical performances to seal the title for their side and yet still miss out on the main individual prize. Nonetheless, here are the contenders.
Adam Keighran
| Club | Nationality | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Wigan Warriors | Australian | Centre |
Aussie centre Keighran was a key player for Wigan as they stormed to the top of the table at the end of the regular campaign. Overall, he scored 16 tries, adding 13 assists, and the Sydney native made history earlier this year when he notched a massive 20 points in Wigan’s Challenge Cup final win over Hull KR. That was the joint-most by any single player in a final in the long history of the competition.
The 29-year-old was second to Connor in terms of goals, kicking 107, but his contribution cannot be measured in points alone. He narrowly missed out on selection to the Super League Dream Team, the judges favouring Leigh’s Hanley, but his partnership with Zach Eckersley, who scored 27 tries, and big hits in defence, got him the nod here.
Lachie Miller
| Club | Nationality | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Leeds Rhinos | Australian | Fullback |
Miller, like the third contender, did make the annual Dream Team; Leeds’ New South Wales full-back was also among the five Man of Steel nominees for both of the first two rounds. Miller was the top pick from the first nine games, and his exciting running has been a key part of the attacking prowess of the Rhinos.
Miller recorded a league-best 166 tackle busts this term and was third for carries (though with a higher average per game than both of the players above him). His electric, powerful thrusts brought 18 assists, and he seems to be getting better with age.
Brad O’Neill
| Club | Nationality | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Wigan Warriors | English | Hooker |
Wigan’s hooker is the only English player in the running for the Man of Steel, and he is also, at 24, easily the youngest. The aggressive Leigh-born star has already claimed the Rugby League Writers and Broadcasters Association Player of the Year and could well make it a double given his impressive form and consistency over the whole season.
Despite his young age, O’Neill, who made his England debut in 2024, has already won a hat-trick of Challenge Cups and League Leaders’ Shields. Now he will be hoping to make it three Grand Final wins as well, after success in 2023 and 2024.