Adam Keighran and Lachie Miller have been shortlisted to win Super League's Steve Prescott Man of Steel Award, in line to join the illustrious list of Australian players who've lifted the top individual honour in British rugby league.
The Aussie duo, along with English star Brad O'Neill, were announced on Wednesday as the trio who are in line to win the UK's famed 'player of the year' honour at the awards gala in Manchester next Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).
Centre Keighran, a 29-year-old Sydneysider who played for the Roosters and New Zealand Warriors in the NRL, has had a superb season with Wigan, roaring into contention for 'Man of Steel' after a recent red-hot run that's helped the cherry-and-whites to a Challenge Cup/League Leaders' Shield double.
While he also guns for the Super League crown to complete his brilliant campaign in which he's scored 16 tries and 107 goals while also defending like a lion -- Wigan play Wakefield in their play-off semi-final on Saturday (Sunday AEST) - Miller's season for Leeds is, alas, over after suffering a knee injury.
The 32-year-old late bloomer Miller, who had spells at Cronulla and Newcastle as well as being rugby sevens Olympian in Tokyo, also had a spectacular season, with no player making more than his 166 tackle busts from full-back.
Yet the two Australians could well find themselves pipped for the main prize with Keighran's Wigan teammate, hooker O'Neill, favourite to take the accolade after already claiming the Rugby League Writers and Broadcasters Association (RLWBA) Player of the Year award.
O'Neill is set to feature in England's World Cup team bound for Australia next month.
The shortlist was whittled down from 12 contenders, who had included six Australians in total - the Wigan trio of Keighran, Bevan French and Jai Field, Leeds duo Miller and Brodie Croft, and Hull KR's Tyrone May.
Keighran and Miller would be the 10th Australian player to lift the award if selected, and the first since French three years ago.
AUSTRALIAN WINNERS OF THE MAN OF STEEL AWARD
1986 Gavin Miller (Hull KR)
1999 Adrian Vowles (Castleford)
2005 Jamie Lyon (St Helens)
2009 Brett Hodgson (Huddersfield)
2010 Pat Richards (Wigan)
2018 Ben Barba (St Helens)
2019 Jackson Hastings (St Helens)
2022 Brodie Croft (Salford)
2023 Bevan French (Wigan)
