HULL KR prop Sam Luckley insists he had belief that Willie Peters’ final fighters could come from behind and claim the Challenge Cup – but even his deep faith was tested at Wembley.
Warrington looked to have one hand on the trophy with just a few minutes to go, but that all changed amid late drama.
“I just kept thinking ‘we’ll get one, we’ll get one’,” said the former Newcastle Thunder and Salford player.
“Then Marc Sneyd came up with that great kick and I was jogging back and I thought ‘this could be it’. But still all we needed was one chance.
“When we’re training that’s our approach – keep moving, don’t give up on any play, stop when the ball’s stopped, all those one percenters.
“That’s what wins you games. Willie’s not talking rubbish, that’s what it is. You have to keep going to the bitter end. I’m so glad we did.”
Geordie Luckley, 29, described himself as being “emotionally exhausted” and said of the victorious feeling: “I can’t put it into words.
“I’m just so chuffed. As a kid, if someone had said ‘you’re going to win the Challenge Cup one day’, I would have told them to do one. This is the greatest feeling ever.”
A keen Newcastle United fan, Luckley was celebrating when his football team won the Carabao (League) Cup earlier this year, ending a 70-year wait for major domestic silverware.
But he says Rovers’ success means more, adding: “When you personally win a trophy, it’s so much better. I think our fans are the same type as Newcastle’s, they deserved it.”
The final was an intense contest filled with big hits and strong defence.
Luckley admits Rovers weren’t at the best but insisted that what mattered most is that they got the victory.
“It was more physical than a typical Super League game,” he said. “The speed was similar and the rain meant everyone just took a step in and ran it up the guts. That’s what we thought and you adapt.
“Our attack wasn’t the best. I don’t think we attacked how we would have liked. We tried to play the conditions but we just kept giving them a leg up, with errors letting them back in.
“But we hung in there, and at the end of the day we had a little team meeting and said it wasn’t the best performance – but we won.”