Luke Gale hopes for more match-winning heroics in cup final - but this time in front of celebrating Wakefield Trinity fans

The scrum-half’s dreams came true in 2020 with hometown club Leeds Rhinos. There was just nobody there to celebrate the precious moment with.

In the midst of a global pandemic, Covid-19 restrictions ensured the sport’s most famous knockout competition would be played behind closed doors for the first time in its history.

So when Gale settled a see-saw final, 17-16, with his trusted right boot in the 76th minute, an empty Wembley, eerily, remained silent.

“The fake cheers then came on and it just did not hit the same,” Gale reflected on his first, and until Saturday, only, appearance at the iconic stadium.

Telling the story in his own words, he said: “It was a mad experience. Wembley was the place I went as a kid. We had a family trip down there every year regardless of whoever got there.

“I had lots of vivid memories of the place and I always dreamed of one day playing there. I dreamed of knocking over a drop goal to win the game.

“I ended up doing that and there was no-one there to celebrate. It was crazy.

“But it was a very good day, if not a bit strange. It was a good experience but it will be nice to do it again with some fans there.”

Three years earlier, he played a pivotal role in helping Castleford Tigers, under the watchful eye of a certain Daryl Powell, to the Super League Grand Final. And although Cas had clinched the League Leaders’ Shield for the club’s first piece of major silverware since 1994 after a memorable season, they failed to beat Leeds in the showpiece occasion at Old Trafford despite being favourites.

It is a lesson Gale will be teaching to his younger Wakefield Trinity team-mates, who are tagged as the overwhelming, odds-on favourites for this 1895 Cup final clash with Sheffield Eagles.

Gale said: “I played under Daryl at Castleford and we got beat in a final where we were massive favourites against Leeds. Everything goes out of the window in finals. That is something I will be reiterating to the group.

“We are under no illusions that it will be a tough game. You don’t just rock up and win a final. You have got to work hard for it. It’s a different game and a different sort of feel. We’re aware of that, I’m aware of that and Daryl’s aware of that.

“The 2017 Grand Final taught me more lessons about a rugby game than I have ever had in my career.”

And while Gale and his fellow Trin stars will be fully prepared for the occasion, the former England international believes it will also be an “exciting” day for the fans, who have had to wait 45 years to see their team play at Wembley.

“It has been a long time,” said Gale, who joined the club from Keighley Cougars part-way through the 2023 season.

“It’s exciting for the club and for the fans. How they have been following us home and away this year has been fantastic and I am sure they will do that at Wembley as well. It’s great for everyone that we get to have our day in the sun.

“Through the years it has been tough. Last year, getting relegated, it wasn’t nice but we have regrouped to try and get back to Super League and leave the club in a better place than when we went down.

“It’s exciting at this moment in time for Wakefield.”

He added: “We didn’t quite do enough to stay up. It wasn’t for the lack of effort.

“But going down, and getting Matt (Eliis, new owner) on board with a new coach, new backroom staff and a lot of new faces, it feels like we have started afresh and that is what we have done.

“The lads who are still here are all great lads, and I said to Daryl that the lads will buy into him and they will want to work hard. I knew it would be a great fit.

“We are sitting at the top of the league, we are unbeaten in the league and we have got a Wembley fixture. But we still have to keep going.

“I say a lot to the younger boys, if you can’t rock up to training with a smile on your face and have an extra step or extra energy, then you are in the wrong game.

“When you are part of something good - and you can feel something growing here at Wakefield - you want to be a part of it. You step out of bed a bit earlier in the morning and you go to training with a smile on your face.

“We had a few goals at the start of the year, winning at Wembley was the first one. We are looking forward to it.”

Asked where an 1895 Cup final triumph with Wakefield would rank in his career, the soon-to-be 36-year-old said: “Getting my cap for England was a big occasion and I really enjoyed how the Cas team played in 2017. We didn’t end up winning the big one but it was a good moment.

“This would be fantastic. I would just love to do it with this group of people.

“This group of players, Daryl and Michael Shenton (assistant) who has had a massive impact on my career. He took me under his wing at Castleford when I could have been led astray! He kept me on the straight and narrow, or at least tried to!

“A Wembley win would be fantastic, with this group of people.

“And giving Matt a bit back from the investment and effort that he has put in would be fantastic.

“It is not just going to happen. We have got to go out there and do it.”

So are we all set for a dramatic last-minute drop-goal from Luke Gale to seal a thrilling win over Sheffield Eagles?

“I actually quite like those moments,” laughed Gale. “If it does come down to that, so be it. Hopefully we have got the job done before that though!

“But when you are a kicker, or a half back, no word of a lie, the last thoughts before you go to bed on a night is that. Everyone does it. I visualised that, 100 per cent (for Leeds v Salford in 2020).

“You do it as a kid. You visualise kicking a goal or coming up with a big play in the dying minutes. The moments coming down to you, you visualise.

“It happens in whatever sport, like a footballer kicking a free kick into the top corner. You have redone it in your head a thousand times.”