It may be overstating the case to call Ashton Sims rugby league’s unluckiest player but in a 13-year career at the top of the sport the 30-year-old has endured the heartbreak of falling at the final hurdle more often than most.
Defeats in the NRL play-offs with three different teams and two World Cup semi-final defeats with Fiji, in 2008 and 2013, mean Sims has never appeared in a major final but he now stands within 80 minutes of breaking that duck when Warrington face Hull KR in the Challenge Cup semi-final on Saturday.
Despite his record in knockout games, he refuses to dwell on the past as he looks to help Warrington reach Wembley for the first time in three years. “I’ve been to the game before the final a few times in my career but never been able to take that next step,” Sims says. “Fingers crossed this year will be the one where I finally get to experience a major final.
“Hopefully we can get the job done and I can realise that dream of walking out in a final. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, though; I’ve never had the opportunity to play in a final and I’ve done a lot of dreaming in the past – this year I want to focus on the reality.”
Australians often wax lyrical about how there is nothing quite like the Challenge Cup back home and Sims’ passion for the competition is plain to see. He admits it was a big part of his decision to come to England and that he used to tune in and watch from the other side of the world as a youngster. “This is what I came over for really. You only ever hear about the Challenge Cup back home, you never really get to play in anything like it.
“The thing I love about the Challenge Cup is that everyone’s got a chance. We’ve seen teams like Leigh Centurions upset the odds this year – and even clubs like Dewsbury, who we played, give the Challenge Cup a real unique feel. It’s impossible to replicate back home.
“Talking to fans and players who’ve been to Wembley, they’ve described it as the most unbelievable week culminating towards the game and I’m keen to experience it.
“Wembley is a massive incentive for me and it’s a big incentive for the club to get back there. We don’t see that much of the cup back home; they show the final but it’s obviously at a weird time, with the time difference. I’ve watched a fair few of the finals in the past, though, and the atmosphere at Wembley just looks incredible – I’m sure it won’t get any better than that.”
Warrington have called up Rhys Evans, who has been out since February with a shoulder injury, and Gary Wheeler in place of the injured Matty Russell, while Hull KR will welcome back the half-back Albert Kelly for the game after he missed last week’s defeat by St Helens with a leg injury.
Despite missing out on the top eight in the Super League, Kelly believes the occasion of the cup has brought the best out of Hull KR: “The boys are buzzing. It’s not Super League, it’s the Challenge Cup and that lifts everybody a bit inside. We’ve seen it the way we’ve trained this week, everybody has a bit more confidence and a bit more energy about them.
“We know what it means to everybody and all the talk is about getting to Wembley but we’ve got a big challenge in front of us. Warrington are a good outfit, they’re very powerful up front and they have good strike weapons, so we will have to match them and more.”
