By day he is aiming to steer Huddersfield Giants away from relegation.
By night Jermaine McGillvary is part of just as dramatic an adventure – helping a rugby league star save his family.
As the season heads towards a vital stage, McGillvary has found himself in a new role as one of a handful of Super League players to feature in ‘Rugby Blood’ – a graphic novel written by his former Giants team-mate Keith Mason which aims to lift the profile of the sport’s stars.
The story loosely follows Mason’s life - which has experienced depression, debt and homelessness, as well as featuring in TV show Peaky Blinders and a Mickey Rourke film - since his retirement in 2013. The comic sees fictional rugby league star and entrepreneur David King being thrown into a deadly game away from the field when his family is kidnapped.
Mason’s boxing friend Joe Calzaghe and rugby league-playing comedian Adam Hills are set to feature in the next instalment of the adventure alongside another crop of current stars. And McGillvary, 31, has relished his transformation from the pitch to artist’s pen.
The England international said: “I was one of the first players Keith approached and it’s a positive thing he’s doing.
“It’s something that nobody’s done before, and he's trying to get a Netflix series from it as well. It would be great for rugby league if it goes national and worldwide and gets the sport out there.
“My three boys have seen and they’ve told me the next one needs to look a bit more like me! But they’ve really enjoyed it and it seems like it’s been going well so far for Keith.”
Back in reality, McGillvary’s Giants are one of five teams separated by just two points at the bottom with six games left - starting with Friday’s crucial showdown against one of those rivals Leeds.
The Rhinos cruised to a 38-18 win the last time the teams met in April but are fully involved in a survival scrap that could go down to the final day of the season. Huddersfield pulled themselves clear of trouble last year during a run off 11 wins from 12 league matches - but that kind of consistency has eluded them during a tough 2019.
McGillvary added: “We know we are capable of it, but last year is last year and it’s a different team now. Leeds is a massive game - a win would give us that bit of a cushion. But the last time we played them they absolutely blew us away and had the game won by half-time.
“They’re a dangerous side to play and seem to have a nothing-to-lose attitude. We’ve lost a lot of games by close margins this season and we’ve got the players and the team, but we’ve been so inconsistent it’s unreal.
"We’ve only got ourselves to blame for that - the 17 that go out onto the field. A lot of times we haven’t carried out the game-plan the coaches have set and have been caught out.
“There’s six games left now and we need to show a bit of steel about us to finish the season positively. There isn’t a magic wand, it’s up to us to go out and perform otherwise it’s just words.”
* ‘Rugby Blood’ is available now from Amazon priced £7.99.
