PHILOSOPHICAL Jake Webster looked back at the cancellation of his testimonial match between his current team Keighley and his former club Castleford and said: “It just wasn’t meant to be.”
The Cougar Park meeting was one of five planned pre-season games hit by the big freeze, leaving the popular 39-year-old former New Zealand international, rival coaches Rhys Lovegrove and Lee Radford, and both sets of supporters disappointed.
And former Melbourne Storm, Gold Coast Titans, Hull KR and Bradford player Webster, who had six seasons at Castleford and is moving from a playing to coaching role with the Cougars, whom he helped win promotion to the second tier as League One champions last season, says the call-off might also have cost him a last career appearance.
“I’m registered as a player, I’m training as hard as ever, and of course, it’s a long season with suspensions and injuries a possibility, so you never know what situations could arise,” the second rower told League Express.
“But there are other players further up the pecking order, so it’s a case of having my hand up – but only halfway!
“As I’ve said before, there’s a framed shirt with my name on it up on the wall and a label on the glass saying ‘break in case of emergency’.
“I was due to have a run-out against Cas, and I was looking forward to showing my appreciation to the fans of two clubs who mean an awful lot to me, but it wasn’t to be.
“We’re about to start our league season (Featherstone visit next Monday, February 6, for a Championship round-one match which will be screened live by Viaplay Sports) and Cas had a game at Whitehaven on the weekend just gone, so there was no option to rearrange.
“It’s a shame, and I’m grateful to everyone who had put so much effort into the planning and then trying to get the match on, but sometimes you just can’t beat the weather, so we move on.”
