French shortlisted for Man of Steel
- Bevan French named on the three-man shortlist for Man of Steel.
- French alongside Catalans’ Tom Johnstone and St Helens’ Jack Welsby.
- Winner to be announced at Super League Awards on Tuesday.
Wigan Warriors Bevan French has been shortlisted for the 2023 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel Award.
Ahead of the Betfred Super League Awards on Tuesday 10th October, the three-man shortlist for the prestigious Man of Steel Award has been announced, with French named alongside Catalans Dragons’ Tom Johnstone and St Helens’ Jack Welsby.
Voting for the Man of Steel Award is carried out each week of the regular season by a panel of former players who award 3, 2 and 1 point to the three best performers in each match.
Bevan French, whose consistent brilliance has been a key factor in Wigan Warriors’ success in winning the League Leaders Shield is named alongside Tom Johnstone, the powerful wing who has been the joint leading try-scorer in the Betfred Super League with 27 after joining Catalans Dragons from Wakefield Trinity last winter. Finally, Jack Welsby of St Helens, who has been Super League’s Young Player of the Year in each of the last two seasons and has excelled at full-back throughout the 2023 campaign.
Johnstone and Welsby will face each other in Perpignan on Friday night, as the Dragons host the Saints in the first semi final, exclusively live on Sky Sports. Then on Saturday at 12:45pm, French’s Warriors host Hull KR in the second semi final, with that match shown live on Channel 4 and Sky Sports.
Since 2014, the winner of Super League’s most coveted individual award has been named the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel, with the award named after the former St Helens, Hull FC and Wakefield Trinity full-back, who died the previous November at the age of 39 after an inspirational seven-year battle against a rare form of stomach cancer.
For the last five seasons, the winner has been determined by points awarded to the outstanding players in every Betfred Super League fixture by a panel of former players chaired by Ellery Hanley MBE.
The winner of the 2023 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel will be announced next Tuesday (October 10) at Emirates Old Trafford, at Rugby League’s biggest and most inclusive Awards Night – when the winners of more than a dozen other awards will also be celebrated, including the 2023 Woman of Steel, and the first winner of the Wheels of Steel as the year’s outstanding player in Wheelchair Rugby League.
The nominees for those awards, and also the Coach of the Year and the Young Player of the Year in the Betfred Super League, have already been announced.
Bevan French is sponsored by Di Taylor and Alex Crompton.
