THE award for rugby league’s best player worldwide – the Golden Boot – this year includes both Sam Tomkins and Kevin Sinfield.

While I am not entirely sure how the nomination process works, as an English fan you have to feel proud that of a shortlist of six we have two candidates – but I can’t help feel we are being either punching above our weight or being treated very kindly.

That is not to denigrate the efforts of the young Wigan Warriors full-back or the experienced Leeds Rhinos leader.

Tomkins, who just recently became England’s leading try scorer in internationals, is the type of player who can turn a game on its head with a move that no-one else on the field would have dreamed of.

Sinfield’s qualities lie in his coolness and resolute belief and it is only with someone like him at the helm that Leeds could have claimed their sixth Super League crown this season despite having to come from well down the pack in the final table once again.

But my argument against them winning the award lies with the fact that what they have achieved has been in the context of the English game.

They are up against Melbourne Storm duo Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith, the Australian skipper, Canterbury full-back Ben Barba and Gold Coast forward Nate Myles, with the winner of the award to be announced on January 4.

This quartet have caught the eye as the best the NRL has to offer this year, but Smith, Myles and Cronk have also played for Queensland in surely the game’s toughest competition the State of Origin.

It is a little hard to see just how performances in Super League and internationally against Wales and France this autumn measure up against the intensity of the NRL and the three-game showdown between Queensland and New South Wales.

While my heart would love to see an English player win the award, my head tells me that neither Tomkins or Sinfield really has too much hope of becoming the first northern hemisphere player to win the award since 2004 when Andy Farrell was the recipient.

Perhaps only when England win the World Cup can we start realistically hoping that the most prestigious player’s award in the game will head back this way again.