Why Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx isn’t a sure thing for SA Rugby’s top honour

South African rugby’s annual awards season always sparks lively debate, but this year’s race for SA Rugby Player of the Year feels especially spicy.

The shortlist isn’t official yet, with nominations opening for the media this week, but if we’re being honest, there’s a clear cluster of contenders who’ve shaped the Springboks’ season: Malcolm Marx, Ox Nché, André Esterhuizen, Cobus Reinach and flyhalf bolter Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Marx is the obvious headliner. Being crowned World Rugby Player of the Year is no small feat — it’s the sport’s highest individual prize and a hat tip to just how brilliantly consistent he’s been. How he re-established himself as the Boks’ premier hooker and kept that form going in tough Test matches deserves the plaudits.

But here’s the thing: there are a few other names that would definitely ignite the debate of the best in South Africa around the braai fire following the stellar international season, where the Springboks only lost two Tests.

Nché was nothing short of monstrous before a knee and ankle injury cut his season short and ruled him out of the year-end tour.

His scrummaging remains a national treasure, and his work rate would make a loose forward blush. Had he stayed fit through November, he might’ve been the favourite to win the international award. Even so, the impact he made on the field keeps him firmly in the running.

Then there’s Feinberg-Mngomezulu — arguably the most prolific storyline of the season. Young players aren’t usually thrown into the Player of the Year debate so soon, but Feinberg-Mngomezulu didn’t play like a rookie.

His performance in Wellington against the All Blacks, where he handled pressure in that record 43-10 win like a man who’s been in the jersey for a long time, turned heads.

However, it was his showing against Argentina in Durban that confirmed him as a world-beating flyhalf. When a youngster swings major Test moments and contributes a record-breaking 37 points in a match, the world sits up and notices.

Esterhuizen and Reinach round out the shortlist with the kind of dependable excellence that often gets overshadowed but shouldn’t.

Both were central to the Boks’ rhythm this season — Reinach with brisk, game-changing sparks; Esterhuizen with a season of midfield demolition and punch, while propping the forwards up as a hybrid player.

Marx may be the global king, but local crowns come with their own logic — and the race for South Africa’s best player will be a thrilling one that could come with a surprise.