Naturally when a team exceeds expectations to the degree Heart of Midlothian have this season, there will be competition for player of the year.
That is in contrast to this time last 12 months ago when the club was heading towards a bottom-six finish. James Penrice went on to pick up the prize at the end of the 2024/25 campaign and while it was thoroughly deserved, there weren’t many other standout candidates.
The same cannot be said going into the business end this time around.
Though for all the summer excitement about Hearts’ enhanced recruitment, it was a trio of players, all at the club for several seasons, who were the early frontrunners. Making up the spine of the outfield team, centre-back Craig Halkett, the relentless Cammy Devlin in midfield and the focal point of the attack Lawrence Shankland were a huge part of their flying start to the season.
When injury struck the latter two of those three, one of the Jamestown signings from the summer stepped up to help fill the void left by Shankland. Claudio Braga caught the eye from the off but put himself into the player-of-the-year conversation with his recent performances.
Another candidate has emerged recently in Harry Milne, though in truth, he was merely reminding everyone of what he has been doing all season.
Given the competition, what happens between now and the end of the season may well determine who picks up Hearts’ player-of-the-year award.
For now, Craig Cairns looks at each of those five candidates.
Craig Halkett
Hardly any other player sums up the progress of this Hearts side in such a short space of time. There was never any doubt about Halkett’s ability, but going into his seventh season, there were doubts about persistent injuries. A strict self-imposed fitness regime over the summer saw him hit the ground running going into this season and, amid fierce competition, he has established himself as part of the first-choice centre-back pairing with Stuart Findlay and was deserving of a new deal announced on Christmas Day.
The only matches he has missed have been through suspension or, on one occasion, when he sat out one of three games in a week.
Derek McInnes has praised his heading ability – evidenced in the Statsbomb radar below where he leads the league for aerial duels won – specifically his ability to judge the flight of the ball. This applies to both boxes: Halkett has six goals this season, two in 1-0 wins.
He has instincts to be in the right place at the right time and is willing to put his body on the line. Moreover, he is good on the ball and his crossfield passes have been a useful weapon. The 30-year-old has also been one of the leaders on the pitch this season, taking the captain’s armband in the absence of Shankland and marshalling a defence that has conceded 24 goals in 29 league matches.
We will find out soon when Scotland manager Steve Clarke names his squad for the upcoming friendlies, but Halkett may have timed his form perfectly for international recognition ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Cammy Devlin
There was a point last season when Devlin appeared at the top of certain defensive metrics among players competing in the Conference League. However, while he was viewed as excelling in some areas, he was more limited in others, such as his ability on the ball.
McInnes, an admirer of Devlin before getting the chance to work with him, spoke about simplifying his game not long after taking over. It worked, and then some, as Devlin started the season brilliantly and kept up that undroppable level of performance until his injury at the start of the year. While he still might not be playing defence-splitting passes or shooting from distance, he was much more assured on the ball and took his ball-winning up another level.
The radar below compares Devlin this season (red) to 2024/25 (blue). All pretty much the same, other than his ‘defensive on-ball value’ – a metric that collates all defensive actions and how they impact a team’s probability of conceding – which is through the roof compared to last year. It means that Devlin’s contribution to Hearts’ defensive record has been as important as the defenders.
McInnes was not only a perfect fit for Hearts going into this season, he was a perfect fit to get the best out of someone like Devlin.
The form of Devlin and Beni Baningime early in the campaign allowed the Hearts boss to play a two-man midfield against many teams with an extra body in there. It also allowed McInnes to play with his favoured front two more often than not.
Devlin was the heartbeat of the team seen by some as a shoo-in for player of the year, until his injury.
Lawrence Shankland
The captain has thrived this season, carrying less of a burden in attack due to the addition of Braga and Kyziridis. It helped Shankland to rediscover the form that saw him score 59 goals over his two seasons before last year’s struggles. That front three cemented itself into the starting XI for the vast majority of the season until Shankland, around the same time as Devlin, was ruled out through injury.
Shankland was the top scorer at Hearts and in the Scottish Premiership when injury struck and while three have overtaken him in the league, he is still his club’s top scorer, though now joint with Braga.
Hearts’ form inevitably suffered and it wasn’t until Shankland was missing that it was quite so clear how much he knitted the attack together – from his Ibrox “masterclass” to the way he led 10 men to victory at home to St Mirren. The form of others has suffered too, not least that of Kyziridis who had developed a great relationship with the skipper and now gets more attention due to his absence.
That said, others have stepped up in that time to maintain Hearts’ lead at the top of the league and, as put by McInnes, it will be “like a transfer window” when he and others return.
Harry Milne
Arguably Hearts’ most consistent performer this season, Milne is one of those who has taken on added responsibility in recent months. A Jamestown Analytics signing from Partick Thistle last season during the January window, he had to be patient due to the performances of last season’s player of the year.
Milne impressed from the off this season. After Penrice was sold to AEK Athens, McInnes didn’t feel the need to rush into the transfer market, with Milne ready to step in and with Stephen Kingsley as back-up.
And Kingsley has been needed, but not because of anything negative on Milne’s part. Rather, Milne has been asked to play various other roles this season, from right wing to right-wingback and central midfield. His versatility helped McInnes temporarily solve the right-side issue until Islam Chesnokov came in at the start of the year and he has helped out in midfield a few times recently.
However, it is from left-back where we have seen the best of Milne. He is everything you would want from that position, and from a Hearts player: presence, drive and an end product. He is an excellent defender, gets forward like a winger and has a wicked cross. This extends to his set-piece taking which has been a huge part of Hearts’ success, particularly earlier in the season.
Claudio Braga
Braga has been a bit of a slow-burner compared to the others on this list, but no less deserving to be in contention. The 3-3 draw with Motherwell will be seen as a huge moment in Hearts’ season if they go on to win the league and it was the game that kick-started Braga’s season.
The Portuguese had shown flashes before that but started on the bench in that game, in which Hearts trailed 3-0. He came on at half-time and scored his first two league goals of the season to help Hearts snatch a point. Since then, he has added another 10 league goals, putting him third in the Premiership top scorers.
There is so much more to the fan favourite’s game than goals, however. The 26-year-old showed that he can create for others and is a menace to opposition players with his ability to close down and win the ball. On top of it all, he has an infectious enthusiasm that spreads to others on the pitch and makes him popular off it.
Most impressively, Braga has recently taken on more responsibility during the recent spell without Shankland. McInnes spoke earlier in the season about the duo having to learn to play together. Shankland later said that "sometimes you need an AirTag" to find him. But once they clicked, they were fantastic together.
Arguably, Braga’s form has suffered slightly because of being asked to move position or do something different from time to time, but in recent weeks, he has shown that he can take on the senior role in the attack, be it as the No.9 or as the second striker.
