MATT Dufty has been arguably the form player in Super League over the past few weeks.

As such, his decision to commit his future to Warrington Wolves comes as a huge boost – the jet-heeled full-back was out of contract at the end of this year but has now penned a new two-year deal at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

> Inside the bid to secure Matt Dufty's future and unlock his full potential, with comments from Sam Burgess

If he continues his superb form of late, he could be a leading contender for the Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel prize – he is currently second in the standings – and while there is a long way to go on that front, Dufty is clearly in a better place than he was this time last year…

More involved and more productive

In almost every way, Dufty is putting his fingerprint on games much more this year than he was at this stage in 2023.

Head coach Sam Burgess has spoken openly about working alongside attack-focused assistant coach Martin Gleeson to get their number one more involved in games and so far, it seems to be paying dividends.

That is particularly the case in terms of the carries he is making – he has made 105 so far compared to 68 at this stage last year, including several late in the set.

Those carries have yielded 933 metres, putting him top of the Super League charts for ground gained and he is averaging 8.89 metres per carry. By contrast, he had made 524 metres at an average of 7.70m each after five rounds in 2023.

He also leads the competition in tackle busts (46) and clean breaks (8) with both figures far higher than what he had managed by Round Five last year, when he had broken 18 tackles and made four clean breaks.

All of this combined has seen a massive increase in his productivity – his 11 try involvements (six tries, five assists) is higher than any other player in the competition at this stage. By contrast, he had scored three tries and recorded one assist in the first five games of last year.

Can he get better still?

Dufty has shown throughout his time at Warrington - and indeed his career as a whole - that he is capable of some superb things with the ball.

Where he has perhaps fallen down, however, is doing so consistently over lengthy periods of time.

Questions will still remain over his decisiveness and solidity under the high ball went put under pressure and they are kinks in his game that will no doubt have to be ironed out.

For now, though, his form remains seriously impressive and there is an insistence from those within the camp that we haven't seen anything yet.

It is easy to forget Dufty has produced these performances on heavy, start-of-year pitches that do not suit his style and throughout last year, he certainly seemed to grow when the fields got drier and faster.

If that proves to be the case this time around, something special could be in the offing.