MIKE McMEEKEN has been chosen to lead Wakefield Trinity on their Super League return.
The England forward only arrived at the club in the off-season from Catalans Dragons but has been made captain by coach Daryl Powell.
McMeeken, 30, played under Powell for six years at Castleford Tigers and has been given the nod to replace Matty Ashurst, who led Wakefield to the Championship title before leaving for Oldham.
“Mike has grown massively over his career as a player and a leader and I believe he will lead our leadership group in an outstanding way,” explained Powell.
“He will lead the team by example, but also with his knowledge and experience of playing the game at international level and in big games across his career.”
Hampshire-born McMeeken has played over 250 career games since starting out at London Broncos, where he made his debut in 2012.
He moved north to Castleford in 2015 and was an important part of the team which won the League Leaders’ Shield and played in the Grand Final two years later.
During his four-year stay in France, McMeeken reached Old Trafford twice more, but Catalans were on the losing side each time.
McMeeken also has twelve caps for England after playing in both of their matches against Samoa in the autumn.
He said: “It’s a great honour to be named captain of a club with such a great history and to be named captain at the beginning of the journey that we are going on at the moment.
“The great thing about this club and the group we have is that we have a number of great leaders in the team, with the likes of Jay Pitts and Liam Hood just two of the guys with a vast amount of experience and respect from the rest of the players.”
