McSHANE HAS A GRAND AMBITION
As player AND coach, Tigers ace Paul is gearing up for a Final double
PAUL McSHANE has already made history this season – and now wants to finish it as a double Grand Final winner.
The Castleford hooker has coached his old amateur team Hunslet Club Parkside (right) to the first-ever unbeaten league campaign in the National Conference Premier Division.
Alongside joint coaches Martin Rowse and Sam Thorpe, he had guided Parkside to three successive promotions before sweeping all before them this year at the top of the amateur game.
McShane aims to complete the job by lifting the title as Grand Final winners, before making up for the disappointment suffered by the Tigers last year and triumphing at Old Trafford.
He spends most Tuesday and Thursday nights on training fields in South Leeds and said: “The reward for me is seeing my friends happy. I got involved in coaching my mates at the end of the day and that’s been pretty satisfying.
“I’ve coached lads I played with, lads who are 10 years older than me and we’ve currently got my two younger brothers in the first team set-up.
“With the older one, Craig, I was cautious about putting him in against men when he was only 16, but the other lads said let him play.
“Jack is 17 and he’s played a few games towards the back end and I just let them get on with it now.
“They probably wonder who I am to be telling them anything, but the whole club is a family club and there are relatives everywhere.
“We didn’t set out to win every game, but credit to the lads, they wanted to keep winning and didn’t take their foot off the gas.
“To go 22 games unbeaten... it’s never been done before and that’s pretty big for us.”
McShane’s experience with Castleford in the last campaign, when they finished 10 points clear at the top before losing the Grand Final to Leeds, will ensure his team stays focused on the ultimate aim.
And he says that will also stand the Tigers in good stead ahead of their upcoming Super League semi-final.
He added: “I think we’ve slipped under the radar a bit this year.
“We’ve not been anywhere near as fluent as we were last season, and have had some key injuries.
“But we’ve kept ticking away, we definitely want to get back to Old Trafford.
“The aim now is two Grand Final wins, 100 per cent.”