Schofield has stomach for upset
Dave Hadfield warms to a Leeds veteran who has come in from the cold
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Your support makes all the difference.FOR a club who have waxed lyrical over the past few years about the quality of young rugby league players emerging at Headingley, it is ironic that so much of Leeds's hopes for the semi-final of the Regal Trophy against Wigan on Saturday will hinge on a 30-year-old with a wonky shoulder and a recently repaired hamstring.
When the new management team of Hugh McGahan and Dean Bell arrived at the Yorkshire club at the beginning of the season, few people thought that Garry Schofield would last long.
His future had frequently looked uncertain enough under the previous regime of Doug Laughton and Ellery Hanley, and Bell admits that he had heard "so many negatives" about the senior professional he was about to inherit.
Under Laughton, it had been impressed upon Schofield that in terms of influence and importance he was a distant second to Hanley, who had been brought to the club in 1992. As a proud former Great Britain captain, Schofield did not always react positively to this knowledge. Talk of his lack of co-operation and sullen attitude spread much further than the boundaries of West Yorkshire.
But now Schofield is more central to Leeds's plans than he has been for several seasons. Bell and McGahan have done nothing but praise him and his influence - both on the pitch and off it.
While they deride what they term "the holiday atmosphere" they found at Headingley, they take care to exclude Schofield from any criticism. Part of the explanation for this must be that, for the first time in a long time, Schofield feels wanted.
And that is because he is needed. Schofield might lack the mobility of old but, as he showed in his first match for six weeks, against Castleford on Boxing Day, he still possesses the old creative flair and a rare ability to read play. That is something Leeds will desperately need when they make the trip to Central Park.
He feels he still has much to prove. There is a need to demonstrate that he was unfairly downgraded by Laughton. He also wants to show that England were wrong to leave him out of the World Cup squad (which in retrospect they were). And his exclusion from the loyalty payments made by the Super League to selected players still rankles.
A combination of those slights has given him with more motivation than a 30-year-old has any reasonable right to expect. He will not rest until the doubters realise they were wrong.
Just how influential he can still be was illustrated by his performance in Leeds's 23-11 win over Wigan at Headingley in November. It is asking a lot for them to repeat that result at Central Park and in cup rugby, but, if they do create an upset, a player who has been more upset than most will be at the heart of it.
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