Lachlan Coote third: Changes to Steve Prescott Man of Steel

The prize for Super League’s best player will be awarded on an average points per game basis for the first time.

The change to the voting system has had to be made due to the significant disruption caused to the fixture schedule by Covid-19 and the inability to guarantee that every club will play the same number of matches by the end of the season.

The revised scoring system is calculated by dividing the number of points attained by the player by the number of games played by that player’s team.

The Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel chairman Ellery Hanley said: “The panel has had to come up with some innovative solutions given the challenges we have faced this season.

“This process has been about maintaining the integrity of the Man of Steel competition amid huge disruption and we are all in agreement that, given the circumstances, this is the fairest option available to us.

“We couldn’t have a situation where we were electing a Man of Steel whose team had played more games than that of his nearest competition.

“As we enter the ‘dark’ phase of the competition - the point at which votes aren’t published – we are confident this will allow the best players in Super League 2020 to finish off the season knowing their efforts will be rewarded fairly at the end of it.

“We still have a very exciting contest on our hands because there have been some outstanding performances from a number of players since the season restarted in August.”

In line with the changes made to the league table, teams must play a minimum of 15 games for a player from that team to be considered.

The current table sees Saints full back Lachlan Coote is in third place with 1.14 points per game.

Placings

1. Aidan Sezer Huddersfield 1.33

2. Paul McShane Castleford 1.29

3. Lachlan Coote St Helens 1.14

4. Liam Farrell Wigan 1.14

5. Sam Tomkins Catalans 1

6. Alex Walmsley St Helens 0.86

7. Jonny Lomax St Helens 0.79