Kurt Gidley could be forgiven for being impatient when it comes to winning trophies. The Warrington half-back probably needed telling it was not always going to be so easy when, as a 19-year-old playing for Newcastle Knights, his hometown club, he won the NRL Grand Final in his first season as a professional.
Since then, things have been considerably leaner, with that 2001 victory his only major success. Gidley came desperately close to ending that wait during Warrington’s Challenge Cup final defeat to Hull last month, but with big games coming thick and fast at the end of the season the 34-year-old has another opportunity to put things right against Wigan on Friday.
The League Leaders’ Shield is not the sport’s most glamorous prize, but with the drama of last year’s final round still fresh in the memory, and a £100,000 reward for finishing top of the Super League, it is beginning to command extra attention.
Back-to-back wins for Warrington since that 12-10 defeat at Wembley have put them in pole position to claim the shield for the first time since 2011, with the trophy guaranteed if they win their penultimate game of the regular season.
“We’re all excited, because the ball is in our court,” Gidley says. “We’ve got a great opportunity to finish as league leaders a week early. It’s all there and in place for us to achieve something we wanted to do at the start of the year.
“I’ve never won a minor premiership. The Challenge Cup was an opportunity missed for us as a team and for me, but you can’t worry about the past.”
Wembley is no place for losers, and after missing two crucial goals – one of which would have put the Wolves 12-0 up – before being forced off in the final quarter due to an eye injury, it would have been easy for Gidley to dwell on that afternoon. But the 34-year-old he says Warrington have quickly switched focus back to the league. “I’ve done plenty of things that have been memorable in a good way and things in my career that haven’t been so memorable. If I was living in the past my whole career, I wouldn’t be where I am.
“It is what it is unfortunately, you can’t change what happened in the Challenge Cup. I’ve never played in a Grand Final before so that opportunity is a great one too – if we get there.”
Warrington’s final league fixture is a rematch with Hull and Gidley believes such a daunting pair of games before the semi-finals is an ideal preparation. “It’s felt like a change in attitude of late as we’ve moved into more serious games and a more intense part of the year. We’ve had some real tough games with Wigan this year, but we’re in a good place mentally and physically. We’re ready for the run-in.”
The measure of a side’s capabilities is often dictated by how they respond from defeat in a big game. Wins against Catalans and Widnes since that Wembley defeat – as well as Gidley’s confidence – suggest this could still become a year to remember for the Wolves.
“ I always believed I was coming to a strong club, a group of players that could challenge for Challenge Cup, League Leaders’ Shield and Grand Final,” he says. “I still believe we can get two of those three.”
