The Woman of Steel (known as the Telegraph Woman of Steel for sponsorship reasons) is an award in English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. It is awarded to the player of the year in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

; the winner is determined by a poll of the players in the Women's Super League. The award was inaugurated in 2018 and the winner will be announced as part of the Steve Prescott Man of Steel Awards in October each year. On 10 September 2019 the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

announced that the award would be sponsored with immediate effect by ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' and be known as the Telegraph Woman of Steel.

2018

The inaugural nominees were

Lois Forsell Lois Forsell (born 26 July 1991) is a retired English international rugby league footballer who played as a for Leeds Rhinos Women in the Women's Super League. Forsell has also played for Bradford Bulls Women and Hunslet at club level, and has a ...

Leeds Rhinos Women Leeds Rhinos Women are a rugby league team based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team is part of the Leeds Rhinos club and plays in the Women's Super League. They were the RFL Women's Super League champions in 2019 and 2022, and from 20 ...

Georgia Roche Georgia Roche (born 3 September 2000) is an English professional rugby league footballer for Leeds Rhinos Women, Leeds Rhinos in the Women's Super League (rugby league), Rugby Football League Women's Super League. She plays at either or . Roch ...

and

Tara-Jane Stanley Tara-Jane Stanley is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a for York Valkyrie in the Womens Super League. She has played at representative level for England, and club level for Thatto Heath Crusaders and Castleford Tigers Women. ...

, both of

Castleford Tigers Women The Castleford Tigers Women are a female rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Women's Super League, the top-level Women's rugby league club competition in the United Kingdom. Nicknamed the Tigresses, the ...

. The award was won by Georgia Roche. In Castleford's

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

semi-final against York City Knights Roche had scored four tries and been named player of the match. All three nominees scored tries in the final of the Challenge Cup in which Forsell had captained Leeds Rhinos to victory.

2019

The nominees were Castleford's Kelsey Gentles,

Emily Rudge Emily Rudge is a British rugby league player who plays for St Helens Women in the Women's Super League. She plays at . Born in Warrington Rudge attended Cardinal Newman High School and first played rugby league for a local Warrington club be ...

of St Helens and Leeds Rhinos'

Courtney Winfield-Hill Courtney Winfield-Hill (; born 9 January 1987) is an Australian born sportswoman who formerly played rugby league for and Leeds Rhinos Women, Leeds Rhinos. Originally Winfield-Hill played cricket as a Fast bowling, pace bowler for Queensland ...

. The award was won by Courtney Winfield-Hill. The nominees represented each of the top three teams in the Super League. Winfield-Hill had been named player of the match in the final of the Challenge Cup after scoring the winning try. The week after being named Woman of Steel, Winfield-Hill captained Leeds to victory in the Super League Grand Final.

2020

No award as the Women's Super League season was cancelled.

2021

Five players were shortlisted for the award:

Jodie Cunningham Jodie Cunningham is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a or at international level for England women's national rugby league team, England and domestically for St Helens Women, St Helens in the RFL Women's Super League, Women's S ...

, Emily Rudge (both St Helens), Sinead Peach, Rhiannon Marshall (both York City Knights) and Fran Goldthorp (Leeds Rhinos).

was named as the winner of the award. In June, four of the contenders had featured in the Challenge Cup final in which St Helens had defeated York. Rudge captained the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

team to victory over

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in the mid-season international and was one of the try scorers along with Cunningham and Goldthorp, who was making her international debut. At the time the shortlist was announced the teams of all five players had qualified for the play-offs semi-finals.

2022

Six players were shortlisted for the award: Georgia Roche (Leeds Rhinos), Amy Hardcastle and Jodie Cunningham (both St Helens), Hollie-Mae Dodd, Sinead Peach, and

, (all 3 from York City Knights). Tara-Jane Stanley was announced as the winner of the award. In May, Cunningham was one of the scorers as St Helens had defeated Leeds to retain the Challenge Cup. York won the Nine's tournament and claimed their first League Leaders' Shield. They lost to Leeds in the Grand Final. All of the players apart from Sinead Peach were selected for the England squad at the 2021 World Cup, though she returned to the national team in 2023. At the World Cup Stanley was named in the Women's Team of the Tournament.

Winners

References

Women's rugby league in England 2018 establishments in the United Kingdom Rugby league trophies and awards Sports awards honoring women {{rugbyleague-stub