Louie chases capital gains
and I’ve got family around there still and spread out around southeast London and Essex.
“I’ve been to Wembley once before with the missus to see Millwall get promoted when they beat Swindon in the 2010 League One play-off final.”
McCarthy-Scarsbrook came late to rugby league at the age of 16 after a chance conversation with a northern supply teacher. He started off at Greenwich Admirals, where he was spotted by London Broncos and came through their junior ranks before joining St Helens ahead of the 2011 campaign.
The 32-year-old helped them to win the 2014 Grand Final and has become a cult figure in a side that could take some stopping this season. Holbrook’s squad is awash with talent and Australian full-back Ben Barba has taken the competition by storm.
McCarthy-Scarsbrook, who stands 6ft 3ins and weighs 17st, said: “This is the most exciting Saints side I’ve played in and I’m really enjoying being a part of it.
“We’ve got a good coach, backroom staff and a great bunch of boys, so if we can keep that going the possibilities are endless.
“When you’re winning, it’s easy to be so high on confidence. Everyone is playing with a smile of their face and that’s infectious.
“The older I get, the wiser become. Instead of running at people twice the size of me, I run at the space next to them.” St Helens have fond memories of a 45-0 demolition of Hull FC at last year’s Magic Weekend. Holbrook had just arrived to take over from axed legend Keiron Cunningham, and McCarthy-Scarsbrook said: “We were just low on confidence when Justin came in.
“That’s not good for a club like ours, but we had the players there and, with Barba joining us midway through last season, we improved massively. I’ve played with some great players but Ben is very frightening for opposition defences because they don’t know what he’s going to do.
“If we can keep this squad together and steer clear of injuries, we could be destined for great things.”
WIDNES co-captain Chris Houston, 33, has said he will retire at the end of the season.