CONNOR BOWER has had a watching brief at Wembley – now he wants to follow in the footsteps of a quartet of his Sheffield teammates by playing there – and winning.
Winger Ryan Millar, halfback Anthony Thackeray, second row Joel Farrell and prop Blake Broadbent were all part of the Eagles side who beat Widnes 36-18 at the national stadium to lift the inaugural 1895 Cup in 2019.
Two years before that, Bower was a non-playing member of the Hull FC squad who defeated Wigan to win the Challenge Cup for the second year running.
He’d also been present when his home-city club, where he came through the development system, beat Warrington at Wembley the year before – the first time Hull had won there – and would love the chance to tread the famous turf himself.
But the second row knows competition for a place is intense, and having made a try-scoring return to the Sheffield team for the recent 36-13 home Championship win over Dewsbury, is ready to dig deep in training to keep himself in team chief Mark Aston’s mind.
“The league is obviously really important, because we have set ourselves objectives which we want to achieve, but you’d be daft not to think about Wembley,” said the 27-year-old, who featured in the 30-16 1895 group stage win over Midlands in Birmingham in February.
“I was pleased to get the appearance against Dewsbury, and pleased to make a contribution to the win (Sheffield’s seventh in nine in the league).”
It followed a 28-10 loss against Bradford at Bartercard Odsal, and Bower, now in his fifth season at the club after spending two with Doncaster following his release by Hull after six years there at the end of the 2017 campaign, added: “The feeling among the lads was that we didn’t play the way we can do against Bradford.
“In the first half against Dewsbury, we weren’t where we need to be, and it wasn’t the way we’d intended to start the game, although we should give some credit to Dewsbury.
“We got it handed to us at half-time a bit, and in the second half, kicked on and showed more what we are capable of.”
Having lost 36-10 at home to Wakefield in the Championship in early May, Aston would no doubt accept his side will need to be at their best to get the better of the final favourites.
But, of course, the long-serving supremo knows Wembley upsets can happen, having played scrum-half when the original Sheffield defied the odds to beat Wigan 17-8 at the original Wembley to win the Challenge Cup in 1998.
Now he’s eyeing a second coaching triumph at the ‘new’ stadium – and relishing the opportunity, saying: “We’re going into the big one, people are getting excited about it, and why not?”
First published in League Express newspaper, Issue 3,433 (May 27, 2024)
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