Will Manny has had an illustrious career in professional lacrosse. He’s always been one of the better scorers in the league, but he’s never consistently been considered for league MVP. With his blazing hot start to the 2022 season while leading an Archers LC team without their offensive juggernaut Grant Ament, Will Manny is certainly adding himself into the early season MVP discussion.
The 2022 season marks Manny’s fourth season in the PLL with the Archers. In 2019 he led the league with 50 points that season, but that also included three postseason games (one playoff game, and two draft order games). If you took away those three “playoff” games, then he had just 30 points in 10 games.
Manny has always been a scorer, but even when he has had his best seasons, there was always someone who had better statistics or had a better “season” that was named MVP. This year, even with other big PLL stars having good starts, it’s Manny who is currently leading the league in points. He has also done all of this while Grant Ament has been out due to injury. It’s something that teammate Tom Schreiber has taken notice of this year.
“He’s fully embraced that role…it takes a ton of maturity, it takes a ton of leadership and a lack of ego and I think Will has fully embraced that.”
– Tom Schreiber, Archers Midfielder
Currently, Manny has 19 points in 4 games and while we have just passed the quarter mark on the PLL season, he is currently averaging 4.75 points per game, which is higher than his career best 4.42 points per game in 2018 and over a point higher than his career average. Even with his down performance against Atlas, he is still leading the league in total points, goals, and shot percentage. In a league that is littered with scorers all over, it’s Manny who is the league’s most efficient goal scorer early on.
Manny has also been leading teammates on the field as well. With newcomers like Connor DeSimone and Matt Moore, Manny has been a field general, helping direct teammates and telling them where to go during plays. He has basically been an extension of the coaching staff out on the field, which has helped with the early season success for both rookies. Manny himself discussed the joy he’s had seeing the young guys find early season success.
“Its so fun to see them have success…the trust during the week and getting these guys comfortable as soon as possible… it’s good to see those guys get on the board.”
– Will Manny, Archers Attackman
The PLL has always done a great job with its MVP award, while other leagues may give the award to the player who had the best individual season, the PLL always bases its MVP based on which player was most valuable to their teams overall success. If we are continuing the trend of previous MVP winners, then Manny is definitely checking all the boxes for what an MVP looks like early on this season.
