LIFE’S GRAND FOR GALE
RUGBY LEAGUE Luke takes top award
LUKE GALE was crowned Super League’s top player at last night’s Man of Steel awards.
It’s an award that is hugely deserved after the scrum-half helped lead Castleford to this Saturday’s Grand Final.
But it’s an honour that looked impossible 10 years ago when Leeds, Castleford’s opponents at Old Trafford, dumped him.
Gutted Gale, 29, was told he didn’t have a future at the Rhinos because Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow were ahead of him in the pecking order.
Now all three players will meet in the biggest game of the year and Gale is desperate to come out on top.
Spoil
He said: “It’s the first Grand Final of my career and it’s going to be amazing. It’s hard to explain how good it feels.”
That’s easy for McGuire and Burrow because they have both won seven Grand Finals with Leeds, six since Gale left the club.
The superstar duo hope to add an eighth title before Burrow retires and McGuire leaves to join Hull KR.
But Gale – a close pal of McGuire’s – admits he hopes to spoil the duo’s farewell party so that he can finally taste some of their success.
He said: “They’ve gone on to be world stars and I’ve come a different route, shall we say.”
That involved working as a labourer and spells at Doncaster, Harlequins and Bradford before joining Castleford two years ago.
It was a move that has worked wonders for him and Cas. But Gale admits that’s a good thing because he was hopeless as a labourer.
He said: “I worked with my dad for six weeks but he says I lasted six days. I told him it’s not for me – it ® made me more determined to play rugby.”
Cas, led by Gale and Man of Steel runner-up Zak Hardaker, have been dominant in Super League this year.
But Gale, whose semi-final drop-goal winner came 16 days after having his appendix out, admits Cas need to deliver the title.
He said: “I’m confident we have enough in this team to lift the trophy. It means everything to the town.” But whatever happens, Gale will be glad his Grand Final debut is against his pal McGuire, with whom he owns several racehorses. He said: “He’s a legend. It’s quite fitting that I will be playing a Grand Final with him on his last hurrah.”