Joe Wardle claimed all the major honours at the Huddersfield Giants Player of the Year awards night.
The 22-year-old centre has been named the Giants Players’ Player of the Year, Coaches Player of the Year and Supporters Player of the Year to reward another highly-consistent season in the claret and gold.
The awards back up Wardle’s decision to undergo major pre-season shoulder and knee surgery rather than play for Scotland in last autumn’s World Cup.
As a result, Wardle has been a virtual ever-present this year, having chalked up 18 tries from 25 senior appearances.
That impressive tally also helped him share the top tryscorer award with explosive winger Jermaine McGillvary, who picked up the Gold Award as the back with the best season’s statistics and the Community Player of the Year.
Another major winner on the night was popular prop Eorl Crabtree, who won the Claret Award as Huddersfield’s top forward for a second successive season.
And the top honours will provide a further boost for the key trio ahead of Friday’s massive home clash against leaders St Helens, when victory will guarantee the Giants a top-four Super League finish and a stronger chance of play-off glory.
Wardle, McGillvary and Crabtree were among Huddersfield’s top performers in Sunday’s hard-fought 38-28 home triumph over Hull FC and, like the rest of their teammates, will be looking to build on that display against former Giants coach Nathan Brown’s Saints and deny the visitors the chance to pick up the Super League Leaders’ Shield on the night.
