McShane primed to face former club
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats hooker Paul McShane is primed and ready to face his former club Leeds Rhinos in the fourth round of the Tetley’s Challenge Cup at Rapid Solicitors Stadium on Sunday.
McShane, 24, is keen to put in a good performance against his old team after being cleared to play by an RFL Disciplinary Tribunal, which found him not guilty of dangerous contact on Tuesday evening.
“Naturally you want to play well against your old team but for me my focus is on being consistent week in week out,” said McShane.
“Obviously some of my lifelong friends play for Leeds but for those 80 minutes on gameday your friendships go out of the window.
“We are always confident of what we can do, you can’t think too much and worry about the other side it’s about what we can do, how we can perform well together and get the result.”
McShane insists that the Tetley’s Challenge Cup is something every player wants to be involved in and is hoping playing at home will give the Wildcats the edge on Sunday.
“Playing in the Challenge Cup is massively important to a player,” said McShane. “I’ve been part of some of the squads that have been to the final but I’ve never had the chance to play at Wembley.
“Every team who enters the competition from the community game experiences the feeling of a big occasion and being involved in the latter stages is great as a player.
“It’s good that we have home advantage, the Wakefield fans have been great this season and I’m sure they’ll help cheer us on next Sunday.
“I’m really enjoying being at Wakefield, we have a good bunch of lads here and I’ve had a good amount of game time so far which has helped my development.
“We played Leeds in a friendly on Boxing Day so I’ve already faced my old team once which was a strange feeling playing against my friends. My focus on Sunday will be on the game not on playing my old team.”
Tickets for the Tetley’s Challenge Cup fourth round clash between Wakefield Trinity Wildcats v Leeds Rhinos are priced at £20 (adults) and £12 (Juniors & Concessions). Tickets can be purchased from the Rapid Solicitors Stadium Box Office, the Ridings Store or by calling 01924 211611/201548.