Castleford Tigers' Alex Mellor

Castleford Tigers' Alex Mellor reveals a dark secret before Magic Weekend at Elland Road.

Transcript

00:00Ready? Have you played it before? I've not played it before, no, I've played it a number

00:08of times, I think I've played it four, so this will be the fifth Magic Weekend Stadium

00:11that I've played at, I'm really excited to play it. Are you a Leeds United fan or anything?

00:15I don't suppose you are coming from Huddersfield? No, I'm a Sheffield Wednesday fan, my dad's

00:20from Sheffield, he's a big Wednesday fan, has been all his life, my brother's a massive

00:24fan of season ticket holding, me and my nephew go most weeks, so... It's enemy territory?

00:29It is enemy territory, I'm not sure about walking around seeing all these Leeds United

00:34badges around, so we'll ignore them and just admire the stadium. It's going to be a good

00:39venue for it though, isn't it? Yeah, like I said before, it's all filled in, the corners

00:44are all filled in, the atmosphere's going to be electric, there's obviously a lot of

00:48fans that pile in, a lot of games in a short space of time, so it is a really good occasion.

00:53It feels like a bit more of a big game feel to it, doesn't it? Yeah, like I said, it's

01:00just another round of Super League if you look at it on paper, but when you get here

01:03and there's a massive stadium and there's a load of fans and it just adds to that excitement,

01:08hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you walk out, it really does add to the excitement

01:13of just another game. So yeah, it's a great occasion for all to be involved in. And the

01:19table is still something to play for, isn't it, in terms of climbing up a place or two?

01:24Yeah, there is. It's clearly not a position that both clubs want to be in, both us and

01:30Giants both want to be forcing their way into the playoffs in general, but when you look

01:36at the context of how this season's gone, every position that we can finish up Super

01:41League is a massive one, so when you put it like that, this game becomes a massive game

01:45and gives us a real chance to get above others' field and hopefully climb the table a little

01:49bit before the end of the year to give us a boost into next year.

01:51Yeah, I think Craig Lennon has said if you can finish another place higher, that would

01:56almost make it a successful season in terms of what you faced and where you were at the

02:01start of it.

02:02Yeah, look, before the season starts, nobody sets out with an ambition to finish ninth

02:06or tenth. That's not what anyone's ambition at this club is. We're obviously aspiring

02:11to do better than that, but when you look at the start we had and some of the results

02:15at the face where we've had a bit of a hide-in to climb every place, it's pretty important

02:21for us and gives us a real springboard into next year. So when I put it like that, this

02:25game obviously has quite a lot of importance and gives us a real chance to do that.

02:30And are you a centre now?

02:31I'm not sure I do a lot less tackling out there, so maybe. As I'm getting older, they're

02:37a little bit more sore after every game. I think making ten tackles a game compared to

02:41thirty is never bad.

02:42Perfect.