PAUL COOKE believes it was “written in the stars” that his Featherstone Rovers would take on York Knights at Wembley.
That’s because last season he and assistant Ged Corcoran were in the other camp, as part of York’s coaching team.
Both left the club after contributing to a play-off charge under Mark Applegarth and joined Rovers, who then let boss James Ford go after just two league games.
Cooke was appointed head coach in his place and now goes up against old friend Applegarth in the 1895 Cup final.
“It’s funny where the sport takes you,” Cooke told BBC Radio Leeds.
“There’s some sort of divine intervention or destiny, that we play the team Mark, myself and Ged were coaching last year, a very good rugby league team with good people at the club.
“All of a sudden myself and Ged are thrust into this role here and ten weeks later we’re playing against them. It’s probably written in the stars somewhere. Let’s hope it’s a fairytale for us.”
Applegarth is also looking forward to the reunion, in what is a first Wembley involvement for both.
“I really enjoyed working with Cookie. I felt we complemented each other really well,” said the York chief.
“We’re still friends now and chat regularly. It’s a great honour to be coaching a team against him at Wembley.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to win, they’ll be doing everything they can to win. May the best team win on the day.
“I’m sure we’ll have a chat afterwards about either a hard-fought win (for us) or tough loss – hopefully the first one!”
The form book suggests an exciting final, with both sides resurgent.
Featherstone have won their past four games while York have triumphed in nine of the last ten – the exception being a 24-22 loss at Rovers on Good Friday.
Applegarth admitted: “I thought we had it won at 16-0 (up at half-time). That’s a valuable lesson about not switching off, and dealing with some of their biggest threats.
“It’s two very good Championship teams and you would think both teams will be up there at the end of the year.”
And Cooke said: “We’ve won the last four so we’ve got some form as well as them. It’s two very good teams, that’s for sure.
“We’re very similar in the way that we play, the styles, the way we attack. We’ve got a lot on them but they’ve got a lot on us.”