He’s Super League’s top try scorer after an incredible 2015 campaign, and Jermaine McGillvary has put his remarkable form down to him getting his love back for the game.
McGillvary burst onto the scene as a youngster before a quiet few years – including what he openly described as a “disappointing” 2014 campaign – but this year has been different, with his form leading many to call for him to be included in the England squad for the series against New Zealand.
And McGillvary says he reflected heavily on his form and his career at the end of last season, and says he feels like he’s finally getting back to his best after going into his shell earlier in his career.
“I had a lot of time to assess after the disappointment of last season, and I knew I had to lift my game because it was holding me back,” McGillvary told TotalRL.com.
“I thought to myself about when my best year was, and it was my first one.
“I was so carefree, I expressed myself on the field and it helped me loads. I wasn’t scared of making errors and if I did I just tried to shrug it off.
“But in my second year people found me out a bit more and I started thinking about things a lot, and went into my shell.
“It’s taken me a while to get back to that level, but I feel like I’ve got the love for the game back like I did in that debut year.”
McGillvary’s hopes of playing for England will have to wait though, as he faces what he openly calls the biggest game of his career tonight against Wigan.
The flying winger admitted he was heartbroken by last week’s loss to Leeds which ensured they travel to Wigan, but the fact they knew they always had another game meant an opportunity to refocus and bounce back.
After losing in the last second to the Rhinos last Friday, McGillvary admitted: “I’ve never been as heartbroken with a match in my entire life.
“As soon as Ryan Hall picked the ball up and started fist pumping I just wanted the pitch to swallow me up whole.
“But we couldn’t dwell as we’d miss out on the big prize and the biggest game of most of our careers is Thursday: Wigan.”
