Tommy Makinson is looking to cap off a dream year as St Helens prepare to face Castleford Tigers in the First Utility Super League play-offs on Friday at Langtree Park, saying that despite a turbulent injury crisis, the club deserve a week off for the way they’ve fought and slogged through to this point in the season.
Makinson has scored 25 tries so far this season, and after being named this week in the 2014 Super League Dream Team, he believes his form has been helped by those around him.
“We don’t like speaking about injuries too much but we have had some bad ones,” said Makinson.
“To lose Jonny Lomax, Jon Wilkin and Luke Walsh during the season it was tough for us. We’ve got to kick on though and the lads that have stepped in have been fantastic and really pulled us through to this position.
“Hopefully we can beat Castleford on Friday and get a week off. Some of the big guys deserve a break and it will give a few players an opportunity to come back fresh.”
St Helens had to wait until the end of Castleford’s game against Catalans Dragons at the weekend to find out if they had secured first place to be crowned League Leaders, and Makinson admits he was keeping a watchful eye on the game – as well as Liverpool’s Premier League match against Aston Villa!
“I kept one eye on the Catalan game on Saturday because I was at Anfield watching Liverpool take on Aston Villa,” said Makinson. “I was nervous waiting for the final result to come through but thankfully Catalan did us a favour and we were confirmed as league leaders. It’s now time to crack on and perform in the play-offs.
“Castleford have got one of the best back lines in Super League and their forwards are really powerful. They’re a great team led by players like Marc Sneyd and Daryl Clark who have had a fantastic season.
“We’ve had massive queues outside the stadium this week for tickets so no doubt it will be an epic battle with an electric atmosphere. It’s going to be one hell of a play-off game and I can’t wait for it to get started.”
