Shenton excited for restart challenge

In his regular column in club magazine ROAR, Shenny discusses playing behind closed doors and training in the lead up to the resumption of the season.

You can read July's edition of ROAR, for free, at castlefordtigers.com/roar.

I can’t tell you how good it feels for the team and myself to finally get the good news that Super League is returning. At the time of writing this, all I know is that we’re back playing in August so I don’t know who our first fixture is against or even where but at least we have a date to work forward to.

We’ve seen other sports start back and there is no doubt it’s a good thing even though there isn’t the same atmosphere, that is just something we as players will have to adapt to as we’ve never had to play behind closed doors before.

We like everyone else have been sticking to Government rules but at least we’ve been able to get together in small groups of six and keep fit. Just meeting up with some of the lads is great, not just to physically train with someone which always adds extra motivation but also mentally. To have a laugh and a chat is important for everybody not just players but it also helps us get back in the team mentality.

It’s looking like we’ll get around two or three weeks training in before we start playing so it’s important we come back as fit as possible, so that limited time we have as a team before the first game is spent on attack and defence team structure. There has been speculation and discussions about bringing in some rule changes from when we start back too. The six again rule looks effective but at the same time bringing in such a game-changing rule after players have been side-lined for 20+ weeks is just asking for trouble. We’ve seen how it has changed the game in the NRL and those guys weren’t off for half the time we have been. Teams having to constantly defend back to back sets, and it looks to have sped the ruck up over there. I personally think it’s a rule to bring in next year which gives players, coaches and match officials a better chance to prepare for it.

With so many unusual distractions for teams with COVID-19 and all the protocols that will be in place, playing behind closed doors, a unique fixture list with games coming thick and fast, plus financial implications of this pandemic, it will be the teams that steel their heads and pull together as a team that are going to be challenging come November. It’s a challenge I’m personally excited for, we have a quality squad and we’ve got a real chance after the platform we’ve set ourselves.

I hope all of our supporters are keeping well, not long now before we start back and fingers crossed, we get some kind of crowds back in the near future.

Stay safe and all the best,

Shenny