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| Christian Roets picks up 2006 Man of Steel award | ||
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On the eve of Millennium Magic Wales Rugby League held its inaugural Man of Steel awards dinner. The event to recognise the 2006 Welsh Premier Conference players was attended by stars from throughout the world of Rugby League. The sold out 230 seat Dragon suite at Cardiffs Angel hotel saw Rugby League stars including Mike Stephenson, Clive Griffiths, Allan Agar, Wales Team Manager John Deveraux along with Wales Rugby League patrons Janet Ryder, Dai Watkins and Simon Weston. The proceedings kicked off with the presentation of the Wales A caps which were presented by Clive Griffiths and Wales Rugby League President Mike Nicholas. This was followed by the awards for select 13 Dream Team who were voted by the conference clubs. This lead to the main awards of the evening. The first major award was for top try scorer which went to Matt Entwhistle of the Torfaen Tigers. In true award ceremony tradition at least one winner was unable to attend and this was no exception. As Matt was unavailable Wales A captain and club team mate Jason Hill picked up the award from Dai Watkins on Matts behalf. Next up was the award for the Young Gun which is presented to the most outstanding young player. This was a very close contest between Nicky Tucker, Owen Lewis and Tom Burnell. Nicky who plays for the Blackwood Bulldogs had an outstanding game picking up the Man of the Match award against the Australian Schoolboys at the end of last season. Both Owen Lewis of the Valley Cougars and Tom Burnell of the Cardiff Demons have signed contracts with the Celtic Crusaders backing up excellent conference and representative seasons last year. It was the closet of the three awards with Tom Burnell picking up the award from 1983 Man of Steel award winner Allan Agar. |
The main event of the evening was presented by Mike "Stevo" Stephenson who spoke passionately about the game he loves. He paid tribute to Welsh rugby legends both past and present, recognising the importance of the 100 years of rugby league in Wales. He spoke about his desire for a Super League franchise in Wales before paying particular tribute to the part everybody present plays in thefuture of rugby league in the country. The awards concluded with the presentation of the well deserved Man of Steel award to Christiaan Roets of the Swansea Valley Miners. Chris had an outstanding all round season with nine tries for his club, making him third overall try scorer in the conference, and one try for Wales A against England in September. Wales Rugby League chairman Mark Rowley spoke after the event saying "There were a number of very strong candidates for the two major awards and I am very pleased for both Chris and Tom. It's been a fantastic evening and is deserved recognition for all the conference players for their efforts last season. Rugby League is on the up in Wales and I'm sure we can look forward to an equally good, if not better, conference season this year"
Full list of award winners:
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