Mike McMeeken: England star on influence of Daryl Powell, captaincy and going ‘one step further’ in a Grand Final with Wakefield Trinity

It may have sounded like a delusional question to have even been posed 12 months ago with Wakefield on the cusp of starting life in the Championship and McMeeken continuing to plough through opposition defences in Super League with Catalans Dragons.

That changed when Trin, eye-catchingly, revealed the exciting signing for 2025 last May.

Back in 2015, with McMeeken barely out of his teenage years, a certain head coach had “put a lot of belief” in him as he put pen to paper on a deal at Castleford Tigers.

Fast forward ten years, well over 200 senior appearances in Super League, including three Grand Final heartbreaks, and 12 caps for his country, the popular forward has now been reunited with Daryl Powell at Belle Vue.

“He’s been massive,” McMeeken revealed to the Wakefield Express. “He’s a very large part of why I am where I am today. He put a lot of belief into me and saw that I had a lot of potential from when I played at London from the age of 18 to 20.

“He brought me up to Cas as a 20-year-old up and took me out of my comfort zone which is what you need to do to improve as a person and as a player.

“He stuck me in there and I learnt so much from him in those years at Cas. I’ve come back now to work with him again and so far so good.”

Powell has also handed McMeeken the captain’s armband to follow in club legend Matty Ashurst’s boots.

The new skipper said: “To be the captain of a club with so much history, to lead the boys and put my leadership skills to the test is a huge honour..

“I don’t know Matty Ashurst too well but from what I have heard he was a good leader and a great bloke around the place as well.

“He is a club legend and had been around the club for ten years. He was a player that others loved to play with, so in terms of that, it is probably big shoes to fill.”

McMeeken is not the only star to join Powell’s class of 2025, with Tom Johnstone also signing from Catalans, Jake Trueman and Cameron Scott arriving from Hull FC, Matty Storton and Corey Hall from their neighbours KR, and Oliver Russell making the short journey from Huddersfield. There are more.

Which leads us back to our opening question: Can McMeeken, who has signed on a four-year contract, lead this appealing Trinity outfit to Grand Final success after defeats with Cas in 2017 and the Dragons in 2021 and 2023?

He said: “I don’t see why not. We have got a good squad and a good balance between experience and youth. And youth is a term I use loosely because it’s more hunger. We have players who are hungry to play at the top level and improve as players so we have got a good balance in our squad.

“You are going to see some players this year who clubs will be looking at and thinking they should have signed them themselves. We have done some good business in getting them on long-term deals.

“The direction of the club, the way that we want to be going, is up. We don’t want to be getting into Super League and just being happy with that. We want to keep improving on the field and off it. We want to be seen as a big team club.”

He added: “To be a part of Grand Finals, they are special occasions. I look back on them fondly. Although they were three losses, I still look back on them as proud occasions.

“You get to step out at the big-time theatre of Old Trafford and you see the crowds - it’s hard to compare that to any other situation.

“To go one step further and lift that trophy, that would be pretty special for the club.”