THE wife of the late Danny Jones is one of two women with Cougars connections to make the short-list of a prestigious rugby league award.

Lizzie Jones has made the final ten of the Foxy Bingo-sponsored Ladies of the League accolade along with Keighley kit technician Amanda Cox.

The top five nominees will be invited to the glamorous Man of Steel awards at the end of the season, when the winner will be announced.

Lizzie's bravery following the death of her husband Danny Jones, who died following a cardiac arrest while playing for Cougars against London Skolars in May, has touched everyone in the rugby league community.

Her strength and dignity in the immediate days and weeks following Danny's passing played an enormous part in helping others who were close to him, not least the rest of the Cougars players, staff and supporters, move forward after such a tragedy.

Lizzie was a tower of strength, walking out on to the pitch at Cougar Park just one week after losing her husband. Being close to such immense courage from Lizzie enabled Danny's Cougars team-mates to pull on their shirts and carry on with the season, which sees them challenging for promotion and league honours – something that felt impossible on May 3.

In recent weeks, Lizzie has successfully campaigned to have cardiac screening made compulsory across all professional and semi-professional tiers of rugby league. At a time of such personal tragedy, she put her efforts into helping to prevent other families going through what she and the rest of the Jones family have.

Meanwhile, Cougars kit technician Amanda has been selected for dedication to her role. She puts in numerous hours every week, all unpaid, to ensure kit and equipment is clean for training and match-days.

Her jobs include washing playing and training kit and towels for the first team and reserves, cleaning boots, cleaning the physio room and assisting with teaching rugby league in local schools with the Cougars Foundation.

She said of her nomination: “It’s a privilege to be one of the final ten out of the 300 who were nominated.

“I was nominated by Paul March and my husband Darren for all the hard work I put into the day-to-day running of the club.

“I’d like people to vote for me, if not for me, then definitely for Lizzie.”

The winner will receive £1,000 of holiday vouchers and sponsors Foxy Bingo will invest another £1,000 into a rugby league club of the winner's choice to help fund a community-related project.

To vote for Amanda or Lizzie, visit ladiesoftheleague.co.uk.