By Alex White
Featherstone youngster Callum McLelland is thriving at the moment, and believes that their success is down to the hard work put in by the team and that it is a dangerous formula for any team to play against.
The 20-year-old, on loan from Leeds, has caught the eye over the last couple of weeks in play-off wins against Toulouse, York and Leigh and believes it is down to the team’s togetherness and work for each other that has sparked this impressive run of form for himself and the team.
“I’m just enjoying the rugby probably more than I ever had. I think it’s because of the people I’m playing with as well and obviously the coach Ryan (Carr) has brought me on leaps and bounds and I’ve really enjoyed working with him.
“But the team I play around and everyone works so hard for each other and our togetherness is great so I think that just brings the best out of me.
“Everyone wants to work extremely hard for each other and when you’ve got a group that is willing to die for each other on the field that’s obviously a dangerous formula for whoever you’re playing against and I think it showed in Toulouse, in York, at Leigh, no matter if you’re not playing right well, if everyone’s still working as hard as they possibly can, you’ll definitely come out with a result.”
With probably the biggest game of his career so far on Sunday, McLelland highlighted how big a job has been done at Featherstone this season and that at the start of the season, it would have been crazy to think that Featherstone would be in this position.
“Since I’ve been here everyone’s against Fev. No one gives us a shot really. I think there were nine lads who turned up for pre-season from which some players must have thought, ‘oh. We’re gonna fold here,’ sort of thing, so to come from nine players starting at pre-season to being in a Grand Final, to be 80 minutes away from Super League, it’s unreal but I have to give credit to the staff, the boys and especially Ryan.
“He’s brought everyone together. I don’t think he actually got over here till just before round 1, so to be able to compete as well as we have done for so many weeks now, and it’s just one more game and we need to take this week just like we have any other.
“I think if you try to play the occasion you burn yourself out too quickly and that can show when you start playing so I’m just taking it week by week like I have been and this week is just another week for me. It’s just keeping my head down, keep working hard and just play a normal game.”
