Rob Burrow: Super League Grand Final award renamed after former player

The player of the match award at this year's Super League Grand Final will be renamed after former Leeds and Great Britain scrum-half Rob Burrow.

The new award will replace the Harry Sunderland Trophy which has been presented to the player of the match in every final since 1998.

Burrow was the first to win the trophy twice, doing so in 2007 and 2011.

The 41-year-old was awarded a CBE in the New Year honours list for services to Motor Neurone Disease awareness.

"I am certain that rugby league players and supporters will agree that the name of Rob Burrow is a fitting one to recognise," Rugby Football League vice-president Trevor Hunt said.

"He has been one of the most popular and successful players in the three decades since the Super League was formed in 1996 and made his own history at Old Trafford as the first man to win the Harry Sunderland Trophy in two Grand Finals, setting a never-to-be-beaten record of winning every single vote for his brilliant performance for Leeds against St Helens in 2011.

"We believe that now is the right time to make a change that brings the award recognition into the new era, and Rob Burrow is the right man."

Burrow was diagnosed with MND in 2019 and since then he and close friend Kevin Sinfield, also a two-time winner of the Harry Sunderland Trophy, have raised more than £15m for charity.

They were both awarded their CBEs by the Prince of Wales during a surprise meeting in Leeds last month, when Prince William met the pair at Headingley Stadium.

Burrow was honoured with the Helen Rollason Award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2022 in recognition of his relentless fundraising and raising awareness of MND while battling the illness himself.

He received all 37 votes from the Rugby League Writers and Broadcasters Association as he was awarded the Harry Sunderland Trophy for a second time in 2011, after scoring one of the most iconic tries in Grand Final history in the Rhinos' 32-16 win against St Helens.

The Harry Sunderland Trophy was named after the Australian rugby league administrator and journalist who died in 1964.

The 2024 Super League begins on 15 February with a derby between Hull FC and Hull KR.

Burrow and Sinfield's former club Leeds will be at home to Salford the following night, with last year's winners Wigan Warriors beginning their defence of the title away to Castleford on 17 February.

The Grand Final will be held at Old Trafford on 14 October, where the first Rob Burrow Award will be presented.