Castleford Tigers players dominate Super League Dream Team

Full-back Zak Hardaker and scrum-half Luke Gale, both on the shortlist for the 2017 Steve Prescott Man of Steel, are chosen for the third time and are joined by their Tigers team-mates Michael Shenton, Greg Eden, Mike McMeeken and Grant Millington.

Castleford won the league leaders’ shield for the first time in the club’s history, finishing 10 points clear of second-placed Leeds, and take on St Helens on Thursday for a place in their first Grand Final.

Gale, sidelined following emergency appendix surgery, has broken the club’s points-scoring record this season while Eden is Super League’s runaway leading try-scorer in 2017 with 38 touchdowns, just two off the record set by his Castleford predecessor, Denny Solomona, 12 months ago.

There is also a place for Hull stand-off Albert Kelly, the other player in the running to be crowned Man of Steel after making a successful switch from Hull KR, while second-row Ben Murdoch-Masila is the first Salford player to appear since David Hodgson in 2006.

The team, chosen by a panel of broadcasters and journalists in a secret ballot, features eight newcomers, including Huddersfield prop Sebastine Ikahihifo, St Helens centre Mark Percival and Leeds hooker Matt Parcell, while Wigan and England captain Sean O’Loughlin is selected for a sixth time.

Dream Team: Zak Hardaker (Castleford); Greg Eden (Castleford), Michael Shenton (Castleford), Mark Percival (St Helens), Mahe Fonua (Hull); Albert Kelly (Hull), Luke Gale (Castleford); Grant Millington (Castleford), Matt Parcell (Leeds), Sebastine Ikahihifo (Huddersfield), Ben Murdoch-Masila (Salford), Mike McMeeken (Castleford), Sean O’Loughlin (Wigan).