St Helens captain Paul Wellens is conscious his career is coming to an end and is determined to add some silverware to his cabinet before he hangs up his boots.
The 34-year-old has not won a club trophy since 2008 and, very honestly, admits he never expected to experience such a drought.
“I’ll be honest,” he said, “if you’d have said in 2008 you won’t win another trophy by 2014, I just wouldn’t have believed you.
“We’ve come close on many occasions, especially in Grand Finals, but we’ve not quite got over the line. I think as players at St Helens, as well as our supporters and our chairman, we recognise that it’s about time that changed and the Challenge Cup is a great opportunity to get some silverware.
“As captain as well, it’s a real focus of mine. I am aware that I’m coming towards the end of my career and I’d certainly like to go out on a high.
“The Challenge Cup is a competition that I love and everybody in Rugby League loves. The history and tradition behind it is what makes it so special. People say that no matter what age you are, you grow up knowing Wembley finals.
“It is certainly not lost on any of the players. Every year, when you enter the competition, the first thing you do is look back and remember some of those special finals that you watched as a child.
“I was very lucky in that very early on in my career, I won something and it started the fire. You are not happy with only one trophy – you want to go and win more.
“That first one is really important so I just hope we can do that for a lot of our young players.”
