Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook has spoken of his desire to play on at St Helens for another season – taking him past his 37th birthday. The imposing forward scored twice off the bench during Sunday’s 60-6 demolition of Hull FC to prove he remains a hugely effective presence.
Signed from Harlequins in 2011, the big Londoner has helped Saints to four Grand Final wins and become a highly popular figure at the club. Whether or not he retires at the end of this season remains to be seen, but McCarthy-Scarsbrook has options outside of rugby league that he could pursue.
“Am I on board at St Helens next season? I don’t know yet, we’ll have to just wait and see, but hopefully I can get it over the line,” the 36-year-old told Rugby League Live. “One more year is what I want to do and then I think I’ll be too old for it – it’s a young man’s game as they say.
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“Hopefully things can be sorted soon but I’ve got other opportunities out there as well away from rugby. I’d like to stay at Saints, though, and physically I feel I’ve got one more year in me. I’ve got my house and four kids and I love living up north. Regardless of whether I play on next season, I won’t be going anywhere.”
McCarthy-Scarsbrook was raised in deepest, darkest Millwall territory in London and remains a keen supporter of his boyhood football team. His mother Bridget McCarthy competed at judo for Great Britain at World Championship level while father Peter Scarsbrook played rugby union and fought in the boxing ring.
McCarthy-Scarsbrook took up rugby league almost by chance after being invited to go on trial at London Broncos, which set him on the road to stardom. Now he is aiming to help St Helens to an unprecedented fourth successive Super League title, having played in their previous three Grand Final wins over Salford, Wigan and Catalans. Legendary Saints captain James Roby is also 36 and has been tipped to possibly continue playing in the 2023 season.
“You’d have to speak to the old boy himself about that,” said McCarthy-Scarsbrook of Roby’s future. “I don’t want him to go anywhere because he’s an absolute legend, but his body is worse than mine so we’ll have to see! But it would be nice to get another trophy in the cabinet. I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve not had any bad injuries, so hopefully I can get this season done and then go again next year.”
Defeated for bitter rivals Wigan Warriors at Wakefield Trinity on Sunday left Saints six points clear of Matty Peet’s side with just four rounds of the regular season remaining. The champions are now overwhelming favourites to clinch the League Leaders’ Shield but McCarthy-Scarsbrook is taking nothing for granted.
St Helens host Hull Kingston Rovers on Friday and the veteran forward added: “Teams raise their game when they play Saints. They want to get one over on us because we’ve won three Super League titles on the bounce.
“We’re the team that everyone wants to beat but on Sunday at Hull FC, everything stuck for us and we scored some good tries. It was a very good team performance.”
Saints have lost Regan Grace and Lewis Dodd to season-ending injuries and Jack Welsby, Curtis Sironen and Mark Percival were all unavailable against the Black and Whites.
“But we’ve got a great youth development system, so lads can come in and it doesn’t look like we’re changing too much,” explained McCarthy-Scarsbrook. “Reegs and Dodd have gone for the season and missing Welsby against Hull deprived us of a key man in our attack, so we’ve had to fight through a lot of adversity.
“We’ve struck together, we’ve done it as a team and that’s something I don’t think gets mentioned enough. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but as a human you obviously want to create history.
“To win the title again this year and do four in a row would be absolutely sensational. To do it in the twilight of my career, alongside a true great of the game in James Roby, would be amazing. We’re a good group of lads and we keep our feet on the ground because we know it’s one game at a time. In rugby league, anything can happen.”
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