Super League Dream Team dominated by Leigh but Man of Steel frontrunner omitted
LEIGH are the big winners in the 2023 Super League Dream Team votes with five selections - but there’s no place for Man of Steel frontrunner George Williams.
Captain John Asiata, hooker Edwin Ipape, prop Tom Amone, prolific winger Josh Charnley and Lance Todd Trophy winner Lachlan Lam all make the side after the Leopards’ terrific campaign saw them win the Challenge Cup for the first time in 52 years and make the Super League play-offs for the first time. But the Man of Steel panellists who decide on the mythical XIII have overlooked England captain George Williams, despite the Warrington playmaker currently topping their leaderboard for the biggest individual honour in the game.
They voted for Wigan stand-off Bevan French instead, who has made more try assists - 30 - than any other player in Super League this term and makes the Dream Team in a third different position after full-back (2020) and wing (2022).
This year’s line-up has six debutants including all the Leigh contingent - except Charnley who returns after a ten-year absence - plus Warrington’s metre-crunching prop Paul Vaughan and Wigan’s 16-try centre Jake Wardle. Wigan second-row Farrell is included for the sixth time, equalling Sam Tomkins’ record of five consecutive Dream Team selections from 2009-2013, while Tomkins’ Catalans’ team-mate Tom Johnstone is on the wing after amassing 27 tries in his first season in Perpignan.
St Helens full-back Jack Welsby, 22, is in for a third year running but, like French, in a third different position after centre (2021) and stand-off (2022). Hull KR captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 34, retains his centre spot from last year in what is the Kiwi’s final season before retirement and Salford’s Kallum Watkins is perhaps the surprise pick in second-row.
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Three-times Man of Steel and chair of the Dream Team selection panel Ellery Hanley MBE said: “Every year the Dream Team selection asks as many questions as it answers – and this year is no different.
"Just as the battle for the League Leaders trophy went down to the wire, so too did the Dream Team selection process. We could have picked a second Dream Team to rival this one!
Catalans' Tom Johnstone in the 2023 Betfred Super League Dream Team kit“Ultimately, every one of these 13 players deserves recognition for what they’ve delivered on the field during 2023. These are the players who have entertained us, eaten up the metres, provided the assists, defended like trojans and scored some unbelievable tries. The selection of five Leigh players is a measure of what that club has achieved in 2023. Liam Farrell’s selection reflects what he has delivered week in and week out for the past five seasons.
"He’s the kind of Mr Consistent who would grace any Dream Team in any era.
“The Dream Team announcement gets people talking about the players – and that’s how it should be. Who’s in, who’s not…the arguments will continue until the early hours, but supporters talking about how good players are can only be a good thing, even if we can’t all agree on the final 13.”
2023 Super League Dream Team - Welsby (St Helens); Josh Charnley (Leigh), Jake Wardle (Wigan), Shaun Kenny-Dowall (Hull KR), Johnstone (Catalans); French (Wigan), Lam (Leigh); Vaughan (Warrington), Ipape (Leigh), Amone (Leigh), Watkins (Salford), Farrell (Wigan), Asiata (Leigh)
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