Wakefield captain Mike McMeeken draws on Grand Final pain in bid for Old Trafford redemption

Wakefield skipper Mike McMeeken knows all too well the losing feeling at Old Trafford: and is determined to use every bit of his experience to lead Trinity to glory in this weekend’s Super League Grand Final.

Consummate professional McMeeken boasts well over 300 career appearances, with 58 of those having come over the last two seasons in a Wakefield shirt.

Having upset the odds to thump Wigan Warriors 33-6 in their own backyard over the weekend in the Super League semi-finals, Trinity will walk out at Old Trafford for the first time in their history.

Their captain will make that same walk for the fourth time in his career, hoping it’s fourth time lucky.

‘It gives you a lot of experience on the week building-up to a game like that as well, and I think I’ll be passing that on to the boys this week’

The 15-time England international lost the 2017 Super League Grand Final as a Castleford Tigers player before being beaten at Old Trafford in both 2021 and 2023 while with Catalans Dragons.

After Wakefield’s semi-final win at Wigan, he joked: “100% record so far, zero wins and three losses!

“I’m obviously hoping to make it one win in four, but yeah, this will be the fourth time (I’ve played in the Grand Final) with three different clubs.

“To do it with this club and to do it so soon just shows what great intent we have and the direction we’re going in.

“I said a few weeks ago that there’s no real ceiling for this club, we’re just pushing boundaries.”

Veteran forward McMeeken has won a couple of League Leaders’ Shields, but is yet to get his hands on the Super League trophy – a feat he could have achieved by 8pm on Saturday evening, if Daryl Powell’s side can topple Warrington Wolves.

Reflecting on his Old Trafford experiences, the 32-year-old said: “The first time (with Castleford) was a pretty surreal feeling, we didn’t have the greatest preparation.

“But for the other two, I was with a Catalans side that had a lot of experience in there, the likes of Sam Tomkins, James Maloney and Micky McIlorum – they’d all been there and won in Grand Finals.

“You learn a lot from players like that and both of the Grand Finals that I was in with Catalans were real tight games, I think there were only one-score differences in both of them.

“You get a lot of knowledge of how to win those big games and sometimes it can be a two-point or a one-point scoring game.

“It gives you a lot of experience on the week building-up to a game like that as well, and I think I’ll be passing that on to the boys this week.”

‘You don’t get many opportunities to play at Old Trafford and take it in… I’ll be making sure the boys enjoy this next week’

Basingstoke-born McMeeken began his professional career with London Broncos, also donning a short as a loanee for both London Skolars and Hemel Stags during his time in the south before heading north.

He went on to enjoy successful stints with both Castleford and Catalans before joining Wakefield ahead of the 2025 campaign as Trinity returned to Super League following a year in the Championship.

On Grand Final week, he added: “There’ll be a lot of people texting the boys now saying, ‘can you sort me out a few tickets?’

“That’ll be for people in the background to sort out, but when that’s all dealt with, we can let our rugby do the talking.

“We’ll be making sure we get things sorted at the beginning of the week and then we can enjoy the week, which is the main thing.

You don’t get many opportunities to play at Old Trafford and take it in. That’s what I didn’t do in 2017, I didn’t take it in as much as I should have done.

“Before you know it, it’s over, so I’ll be making sure the boys enjoy this next week and enjoy each other’s company, as we always do.

“Then, when it comes to game time, we let our game do the talking.”