Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley and Morgan Knowles have all been included in the Betfred Super League Dream Team for 2020.
Lomax is named at six, with Walmsley in at prop and Knowles, who was also named in 2019, at loose forward.
It’s Walmsley’s second inclusion after being named in 2015, whilst Lomax who has the most try assists this season, was last included in 2018.
It’s a well deserved inclusion for the Saints trio with a number of others, including perhaps Lachlan Coote unfortunate not be named.
Wigan Warriors Bevan French is top of the season statistics for tackle busts and clean breaks, and second for tries scored, is the full back and he is joined by Salford Red Devils winger Krisnan Inu and the Warrington Wolves pair of centre Toby King, who finished the season top of the offloads charts, and prop Mike Cooper, making his first appearance in a stellar 14-year career.
Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel nominees Aidan Sezer and Paul McShane are also in for the first time, as is Wakefield Trinity second row Kelepi Tanginoa.
Players from eight teams comprise this year’s 13.
Saints’ Morgan Knowles, Leeds Rhinos’ Ash Handley and club teammate Konrad Hurrell all backed up their 2019 selections with fine seasons. Handley finished 2020 as top try scorer and top metre-maker.
Warriors loose forward Liam Farrell makes his third Dream Team appearance after an impressive campaign. Farrell made the second highest number of clean breaks and carries in the competition; he was also third for tackles and metres gained, and fourth for clean breaks and tackle busts.
Saints prop Alex Walmsley makes his second appearance in Dream Team; his first was in 2015. Walmsley’s half-back teammate Jonny Lomax, who first appeared in 2018 before narrowly missing out last year to Blake Austin and Jackson Hastings, returns to the team in 2020. No one has more try assists than Lomax this season.
Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel panellist Jason Robinson said: “It is a credit to the players and the competition that so many different Super League teams are represented in this year’s Dream Team.
“A good barometer is to sometimes look at the strength of the list of players who have missed out, and there are some wonderful talents that are just outside this top 13.
“I have really enjoyed the emergence of some of the young players in the game who have adapted to first team life so well and there are others who are slightly older who really made their mark in Super League – I think Ash Handley and Toby King are good examples of that.
“There are also a number of players who have defended their Dream Team position since last year, proving impeccable consistency in their playing abilities.”
Dream Team 2020
Bevan French – Full Back (Wigan Warriors)
Krisnan Inu – Winger (Salford Red Devils)
Ash Handley – Winger (Leeds Rhinos)
Toby King – Centre (Warrington Wolves)
Konrad Hurrell – Centre (Leeds Rhinos)
Alex Walmsley – Prop (St Helens)
Mike Cooper – Prop (Warrington Wolves)
Aidan Sezer – Half Back (Huddersfield Giants)
Jonny Lomax – Half Back (St Helens)
Paul McShane – Hooker (Castleford Tigers)
Liam Farrell – Second Row (Wigan Warriors)
Kelepi Tanginoa – Second Row (Wakefield Trinity)
Morgan Knowles – Loose Forward (St Helens)
