Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook is in no rush to settle down or retire, despite being about to enter his 16th season in Super League.
McCarthy-Scarsbrook turned 35 in January. He will be the fourth-oldest player in Super League this season and is off-contract at the end of 2021.
The veteran forward has made no decisions yet on his future, and he expects his body will let him know whether he should play on next year or hang up his boots at the end of this season.
“I’ll see how I’m feeling halfway through the season,” admits McCarthy-Scarsbrook.
“If I’m falling apart will probably be time to hang up the boots. But I’m still very young in the head, so I think that’s a good way of putting it.
“So far I haven’t had any major injuries. So as long as that stays with me and I’m as fit as a fiddle then hopefully I’d like to go around again.”
The London product, who is often referred to purely by his initials LMS, has spent the past decade with St Helens and has been a key part of the club’s back-to-back Grand Final successes.
He made 20 appearances last season, 16 of them off the bench, from which he made an impressive impact.
“I just to try and keep up with all these youngsters that are coming through, they drive me up the wall,” he jokes.
“Now that I’m one of the older heads I should know what I’m good at doing, so I just need to try and be consistent, and if I can it will go a long way.”
The backrower has represented England twice in the past and is hoping to don the shirt of Ireland again at this year’s World Cup, after playing a significant role for the Emerald Isle in the 2017 World Cup.
But before then, he believes preparations are on track at St Helens for another strong campaign.
“Pre-season’s been not too bad, but it’s horrible, as it always is,” he says.
“We’ve had two amazing years, going back-to-back, and it was one hell of a game to finish it off last year to get us the trophy.
“We’ve got some new signings and we have to drill them into the philosophy of the club and what it means to play for St Helens and they’re drilling in fantastically. Hopefully they can ride the wave as well and get us to three in a row.”
St Helens are targeting a third consecutive Super League crown this year, which would be an achievement to rank alongside the famous Leeds Rhinos team of 2007 to 2009.
“Leeds were an absolutely phenomenal team back then with Sinfield, Peacock, Maguire and Burrow.
“It would be nice to go in the record books with them, but we’ve got a long way to go. I hope we can get some fans back into the stadiums in the near future.
“They missed one hell of a game in the Grand Final against Wigan. But I’m sure they enjoyed watching it on television.”
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