Meeke’s high five
debuts in the last century. He admits he is slightly miffed that Warrington’s Ben Westwood beats him to the “oldest player” tag by seven days.
He said: “Last year there were five of us who were playing in the 1990s and I’ve seen off three of them – Andy Lynch, Gaz Ellis and Leon Pryce who have all retired.
“But Benny Westwood has got the determination to keep going so who knows who will finish first?
“I could be forced to retire next week if I got injured, and that could happen to any player.
“I don’t worry about it because I’ve got so many other options outside the game so that takes the pressure off. It means I can just carry on enjoying training and playing. I won’t hang on just for the sake of the laugh – I know I can still do a good job.
“If I’d had my kids young they would be coming through into the squad about now and I wonder if they’d call me dad or Jonesy at training.
“Some of the players like Jack Walker weren’t even born when I made my debut and that makes me laugh.
“But I love playing with this next generation of kids. They could be even better than the last.”
Only Leeds and St Helens have ever retained a Super League title in its 22-year history.
Rhinos had a disastrous
2016 season after winning it the year before and Wigan also struggled last season to repeat their titlewinning exploits of the previous year.
Captain Sean O’Loughlin said: “It is really hard to back up a title because everyone uses you as the benchmark.
“There are a lot of teams now who aren’t there just to make up the numbers but who have a genuine chance of winning.
“More teams now are pushing for the top – just look at Castleford in the Grand Final last year.”
O’Loughlin, 35, is hoping to use Wigan’s campaign to make up for the bitter blow of being injured for last December’s World Cup Final.
The England skipper, who got crocked in the semi-final, said: “We feel we’ve got the strength in depth to do really well. We’re very hungry to do better than last year.” NORTHERN IRELAND’S Kris Meeke is up to fifth ahead of the final day of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally.
The Citroen driver lacked the pace of his rivals but battled hard to hold sixth at the end of Friday’s stages, before picking up another position when Dani Sordo retired.
Frenchman Sebastien Ogier has the lead, with Estonia’s Ott Tanak and Finn Jari-Matti Latvala the five-time World Rally Champion’s nearest rivals.
Meeke was 10th after an icy opening stage but climbed to sixth when Craig Breen and Andreas Mikkelsen hit problems yesterday.
Sordo’s retirement saw him briefly running as high as fourth after Esapekka Lappi suffered a puncture but the Finn recovered to repass Meeke on the final stage.