02 July 2023 , 16:00
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He’s terrorised them for years but Luke Gale is now being heralded the new Messiah by joyous Wakefield fans.
And one Trinity supporter has vowed to have a tattoo of the ex-England scrum-half depicted as Jesus if he helps save them from relegation. In only his second game for the club, Gale helped mastermind Friday’s brilliant 32-6 win over Salford which has breathed life into their bid to avoid the drop. Having starred for arch-rivals Castleford for years and also captained their other big foes Leeds, it was surreal for him to hear them chanting his name and asking for selfies afterwards.
But things got more bizarre for the 35-year-old when a fan retweeted the mocked-up Jesus image and declared he’d get it inked for real if he got a 1,000 likes and bottom-placed Trinity gained Super League safety. In his first interview since joining the club from part-timers Keighley in May, Gale told the Mirror : “It is genius. And I’ve Tweeted him to say I’m going to hold him to it!
“It was quite amusing. I’d already been sent it about 50 times by Saturday morning. I definitely will hold him to. I might get it as well. It could be my first tattoo!”
Although he’s a former Man of Steel, Gale conceded - unlike many of his peers - he’s never dared get a tattoo. He said: “I’m clean. I’m scared to death. I always thought about getting one but the fear of the needle always outweighs my desire to get whatever it is I’m thinking. I’ll definitely go hold this guy’s hand, though, if we do pull it off!”
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Wakefield - who have famously survived numerous relegation scraps - are still four points behind nearest rivals Castleford with ten games remaining but they do host them next month. On that elated reaction from Wakefield fans, Gale - who signed an 18-month deal - added: “It was great fun. I’d say Wakey’s is a friendly rivalry with Cas and Leeds. But it’s far from it.
Wakefield's Luke Gale having his pic taken by fans after Friday's crucial win v Salford (Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com) (Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com)“It’s the nature of the beast, though. I’m employed by Wakefield now and I want to play my best footy here. To have another dance in Super League like that on Friday was brilliant. I’m not going to lie. It felt good.
“It was fantastic. On a team level and a personal level. We beat Leeds in our last home game so hopefully we’re starting to click into gear. We have some wind in our sails now. I’ve been up against many Wakefield sides at the back end of the year and they always seem to play their best footy then so hopefully we’ll come home strong now.”
Gale did think his glittering top-flight career was over after he left Hull at the end of last season. He explained: “I started at Keighley in the Championship and probably thought I’d never play Super League again. That was the call and I was more than happy with it.
“But Wakefield came in and just that thought of maybe keeping them up was enough of a challenge for me to jump at it. And it’s been great. A breath of fresh air. Obviously it was massively frustrating to start with. A groin niggle kept me out for the first seven weeks. But I’m just glad be to be back out there now and having a positive impact on the team.”
Wakefield boss Mark Applegarth knows Gale’s organisational quality, kicking game and leadership skills could be crucial in steering the club to safety. That is already showing and it will be needed again when they entertain third-placed Wigan on Friday. But veteran Gale insisted: “We were very good in every facet of the game against Salford and thoroughly deserved the points. It’s definitely the best performance I’ve seen us put in since I've been here. The boys are working hard for each other.
“Some games we’ve not been far off at all. It all clicked into gear and we were clinical. It was massive.”
He added: “We were good against Hull KR. We just started poorly. We went 16 nil down, I gave them a freebie with an interception and we couldn’t claw our way back. We got it to ten points and I kicked a 40/20 and how the officials missed it I don’t know although they have apologised since.
“There were positive signs and we saw that again on Friday. We spoke all week that we have no more time. We say in review we need to get this right and that right but the time for talking has stopped: we need to start doing.”