GALE: CAS READY TO STORM IT Man of Steel feeding off Grand Final pain
Just four days to the big kick-off
LUKE GALE does not shy away from his Old Trafford heartache – quite the opposite. The Steve Prescott Man of Steel – the best player in Super League as voted for by his peers – was in the Castleford side that dominated the regular season only to be denied a first-ever title by Grand Final masters Leeds last October. Having been the key man as the Tigers topped the league table by 10 points, Gale was unable to make his mark at the Theatre of Dreams. Daryl Powell’s Cas – hit by Zak Hardaker’s drugs ban in build-up – were outplayed by a Rhinos team winning their eighth title of the summer era. Gale (below) could not spend t he winter nter wallowing in disappointment ntment – within days he was on n a plane to Australia for the World Cup. But the e memories of t hat t 24- 6 Grand Final defeat remain. He said: “The heartache artache still sits s there, spurs you u on and inspires you to never get that feeling again. I kind of didn’t think about it straight away – we went to Dublin straight after the Grand Final as a group of lads. “And on the Thursday I flew to Australia for the World Cup. I didn’t get a c chance to dwell on it. “Now that I have sat down and thought about it, fa fair play to Lee Leeds, they pl played the co conditions better be than u s . We didn’t show our true t colours. c It does still hurt. You can’t write that off, getting beaten in a Grand Final – I’ll be using it as motivation.”
Gale had to deal with a second case of falling at the last hurdle when England were edged out 6-0 by Australia in a thrilling World Cup final.
But he says the emotions were very different in Brisbane.
Pride
Gale said: “We did well – we were an ankle-tap away from going six- all in a World Cup final. The overriding feeling was pride at everyone’s effort.”
Gale’s own performances came under the microscope – with a different brief to his role at Castleford. He said: “It was hard to get into the swing of things at first, but I felt the more I got into the tournament the better I played.
“It’s a different role to what I do with Castleford. It’s a different game almost, the English game to the Australian one. There it’s all based on completions and high- percentage finishes, whereas at Cas we’re used to throwing it about a bit more.”
Gale is now preparing to ‘ throw it about’ again as Cas kick- off their 2018 campaign with a trip to fancied St Helens on Friday.
He added: “The lads look sharp – we’re in a real good position to build on last year.”