{"id":773939,"date":"2026-09-17T20:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773939\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T20:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:02:18","slug":"wigan-warriors-brad-oneill-wins-prestigious-award-as-super-league-club-owner-also-recognised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/773939\/","title":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors&#8217; Brad O&#8217;Neill wins prestigious award as Super League club owner also recognised"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2400\" height=\"1600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MW8_9124.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Wigan Warriors hooker Brad O\u2019Neill has been voted as the 2026 Player of the Year by the Rugby League Writers and Broadcasters Association (RLWBA), with Huddersfield Giants\u2019 owner Ken Davy also recognised.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Neill, who was<a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/super-league-dream-team-confirmed-as-wigan-warriors-stars-snubbed-and-leeds-rhinos-lead-selections-118527\/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUY1JRwZG9mAWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXU3bEl2T3lYQk52TDJLVEZzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEekT6mGzOf1X2Q2RYoZKXTc47Te4ST-WUN3sspgaqWmS0ZsKLzob8hTGyDc8A_aem_Yyt9fj38IC31F7fg4jr5Kg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> selected to the Super League Dream Team<\/a> as well, has landed the prestigious award for the first time after an impressive season in cherry and white.<\/p>\n<p>After a bitter end to his 2025 campaign that saw him sin binned in the Grand Final loss to Hull KR before being omitted from the England squad for the Ashes, O\u2019Neill has bounced back and been the clear standout hooker across Super League.<\/p>\n<p>That saw him earn Dream Team selection but the Wigan Warriors man has now been recognised by the RLWBA after winning the vote among journalists.<\/p>\n<p>He becomes the eighth Wigan Warriors player to win the award with current teammates Bevan French [2020] and Jai Field [2022] among others at the club to win the award.<\/p>\n<p>Super League Dream Team reaction, England selection debate, and are Wigan Warriors unstoppable? <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FvHvwDgv2mE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n<p>Wigan Warriors man becomes second hooker to land RLWBA player of the year<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s impressive about O\u2019Neill\u2019s win is that he becomes only the second hooker to land the award since its inception in 1996, with St Helens\u2019 James Roby [2018] the other number nine to win it.<\/p>\n<p>Others who were nominated include Brodie Croft [who this writer voted for], Jake Connor, Jai Field, Bevan French, Adam Keighran, Lachie Miller and Harry Smith but it was O\u2019Neill who came out on top, securing more than 30% of the votes.<\/p>\n<p>RLWBA chair Trevor Hunt said: \u201cBrad is the sort of tough, no-nonsense player whose contribution is often overlooked, but it\u2019s clear from any conversation with his team-mates and coaches, and the Wigan supporters, that he is hugely respected and valued by everyone at The Brick Community Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not for us to make Brian McDermott\u2019s selection for the World Cup, but we hope Brad has a few more big performances in him this autumn wearing the England shirt in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The winner of the RLWBA\u2019s other award, the Merit Award, was won by Huddersfield Giants\u2019 owner Ken Davy, who has announced that he will step down from the day-to-day running of the club.<\/p>\n<p>Davy took over as chairman in 1996 and though he has resigned that position, he still remains committed to the club with his investment seeing Huddersfield upgrade Dewsbury\u2019s stadium for their 2027 move.<\/p>\n<p>Hunt said: \u201cWe are also pleased to recognise Ken Davy for the commitment and loyalty he has shown to the Huddersfield Giants since he first took over as chairman in 1996.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey weren\u2019t in the Super League then and they hadn\u2019t played in the top division for almost two decades, but Ken\u2019s investment has established them as a Super League club for 28 of the last 29 seasons, during which they have regularly been Play-Off contenders, winning the League Leaders\u2019 Shield in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFollowing his decision in June to stand down as Chair, this is a fitting time for the RLWBA to show our appreciation for Ken\u2019s contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Brad O\u2019Neill has been voted the 2026 Player of the Year by the Rugby League Writers and Broadcasters Association (RLWBA) \ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Ken Davy OBE has won the RLWBA\u2019s Merit Award for services to the sport and its presentation in the media \ud83c\udfc6 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JxKqztJhJT\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/JxKqztJhJT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rugby Football League (@TheRFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheRFL\/status\/2100585567348035739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">September 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789675338_865_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors hooker Brad O\u2019Neill has been voted as the 2026 Player of the Year by the Rugby&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-773939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}