Castleford's Paul McShane is ready to rediscover his Man of Steel and England form after conceding captaincy weighed heavy on him last term.
The bustling hooker, 33, is one player out to prove a point in Betfred Super League this season. McShane was Man of Steel in 2020 and made his long-awaited Test debut the following year. But his form dipped last term after being made Castleford skipper and he was axed from Shaun Wane’s World Cup squad as his club narrowly missed the play-offs.
McShane recalled: “There was a lot of frustration there. I got captain last year but don’t think I did that justice. It might have played on my mind. But just training now, I’ve got a buzz back. I don’t know if it is because I want to prove people wrong from what I did last year or prove myself wrong that I’m not that player. But there’s a good feeling around it. The first round can’t come quick enough.”
The signing of Warrington’s ex-England stand-off Gareth Widdop and Wakefield’s Australian No.7 Jacob Miller gives Castleford a new dynamic. McShane spent much of last term filling in as a half-back following a string of injuries. Ahead of Sunday’s opener at Hull, he admitted: “Those two are definitely big pluses for us as they have so much experience and know what they want.
“Hull have a new spine, too. It’s pretty hard to judge what they’re going to be like. They have a great coach in Tony (Smith) and what he’s done with his teams, especially what he did with Hull KR. I don’t think we know what to expect but we just have to worry about us getting our jobs right and starting better than what we did last year. We were none from three, then. We were all disappointed with what we did. We want to go better.”
And McShane insisted he was shocked by his World Cup omission despite Wane having spoken glowingly of his abilities previously.
The ex-Leeds rake said: “I knew deep down my standards weren’t where they should be. That feeling I had for a big chunk of the back end of the season was that I knew I wasn’t playing to where I needed to be for Waney or England standards so that wasn’t a surprise to me. But it’s driving me to be better.”
