Wigan sweep up at awards

Wigan completed a clean sweep at the Super League awards dinner, scooping four gongs including the prized Man of Steel, which went to winger Pat Richards.

The Warriors earned themselves the Club of the Year award, while boss Michael Maguire scooped Coach of the Year, and Sam Tomkins, who was also a contender for Man of Steel, crowned Young Player of the Year.

The Man of Steel is the player deemed to have made the biggest impact on the Engage Super League season by his peers, who vote for the award in a secret ballot.

Richards polled more votes than Tomkins and the other nominee, Warrington’s Adrian Morley, to become only the fifth Australian to win the award since it began in 1977.

The Ireland international topped both the try scoring and goal kicking charts in racking up 388 points, helping Wigan to the League Leaders Shield and a Grand Final against St Helens on Saturday.

Maguire has been recognised as Coach of the Year in his first season in Super League since he flew in from Australia to join Wigan at the end of last year.

In winning the Club of the Year award Wigan were praised not only for their performances on the field but for the way they run the club and present themselves.

Tomkins, 21, pipped Hull KR prop Liam Watts and St Helens player Jonny Lomax to win the Engage Young Player of the Year Award for the second successive season.

Three special awards were given to players deemed to have made a significant and memorable contribution throughout their careers – Keiron Cunningham (St Helens), Malcolm Alker (Salford) and Jason Demetriou (Wakefield), racking up almost 900 Super League appearances between them.

Harlequins were presented with their Fair Play Index winners award, while St Helens prop James Graham was crowned top metre marker and Catalans Dragon Dallas Johnson was named Super League Hit Man, after making 1,106 tackles throughout the season.