Gareth Ellis has revealed how his drive to win the Challenge Cup is fuelled by one of the darkest days of his career. The Hull captain led his team out at Wembley for the 2013 final against Wigan, but that initial dream quickly turned into a nightmare as they lost 16-0 and became the first side in 24 years to be nilled in a Cup final.
Ellis’s record with the Challenge Cup is strikingly similar to Hull’s; they have both never won at Wembley but can move a step closer towards ending that record together on Friday should they beat the holders Leeds and move into the semi-finals. Ironically, Ellis was playing for the opposition the last time Hull won the Challenge Cup, when they beat Leeds at the Millennium Stadium in 2005 in one of the more memorable finals of recent years.
With Hull’s hierarchy prioritising a return to Wembley in the year they celebrate their 150th anniversary, Ellis is keen to end his and the club’s curse with the stadium and abolish the painful memories of two years ago. “It’s really big for the club is the Challenge Cup,” Ellis said.
“It’s something that is steeped in a lot of history, and of course Hull have never won at Wembley. Under the surface 2013 still motivates me. It’s an underlying motivation to get back there and right some wrongs. It was a huge honour to play at Wembley, let alone lead a team out, but it was really disappointing with the manner in which we lost – there’s a real difference between just getting to Wembley and actually winning there.”
Hull play Leeds for the second time in five days aiming to exact revenge for their 32-20 loss at Headingley last weekend, and Ellis admits that after back-to-back defeats in Super League, they must perform better if they are to advance to the last four. “It’s disappointing to post back-to-back losses but the effort is there, and if we keep that going then things will turn round.
“We gave ourselves enough chances to win against Leeds, and we need to be a bit smarter in key points of the game. We haven’t been clinical enough; we’re making errors at key points which isn’t good enough against teams like Leeds. But we can take them back to Hull with a lot of belief, it’s a disappointing result to lose last weekend but it’s all to play for again in the cup.”
Hull will be without the scrum-half Marc Sneyd after he was suspended for two games following a “crocodile roll” tackle on Danny McGuire, who himself is a major doubt for Leeds after the challenge with an ankle injury.
The Rhinos will also wait until kick-off to make calls on fellow half-back Liam Sutcliffe and the forward Adam Cuthbertson, who also picked up knocks last weekend.
The Wakefield chairman Michael Carter believes his side have made a major statement of intent with the signing of Kevin Locke. The New Zealand international has joined on a deal until the end of the season after having his resignation letter accepted by Salford Red Devils earlier this week.
“It’s win-win all round,” said Carter. “If he’s happy and plays decent rugby and we’ve helped him to rekindle his love of rugby league then that’s great. At the same time if he helps us in our battle to stay in Super League, then that’s brilliant for us.”
