{"id":179882,"date":"2025-10-05T05:23:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T05:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/179882\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T05:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T05:23:06","slug":"captain-of-super-league-hopefuls-admits-chip-on-shoulder-as-return-to-promised-land-awaits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/179882\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain of Super League hopefuls admits ‘chip on shoulder’ as return to promised land awaits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The captain hoping to lead York Knights into the big time has revealed why he has \u201ca chip on my shoulder\u201d about Super League.<\/p>\n

Half-back Liam Harris will skipper York in Sunday\u2019s Championship Grand Final at home to Toulouse Olympique when they could add the big prize to the 1895 Cup and league leaders\u2019 shield they have already won this year.<\/p>\n

Victory would also edge Knights a step closer to a place in Super League for 2026, either by being among the top-12 clubs under the IMG grading system or as one of two sides chosen by a panel who will assess applicants on finances, sustainability and their ability to field a competitive team in future seasons.<\/p>\n

Harris, a Championship player of the year nominee<\/a>, played 11 Super League games for his home city club Hull FC in 2018 and admitted he has always been desperate to get back<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is something I have been longing for for a long, long time,\u201d Harris said at a press conference on Thursday to preview this weekend\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been opportunities in the past I could have potentially taken, but I decided to stick with York because I thought it was the right thing to do. Fingers crossed it pays off.<\/p>\n

\u201cYork is a place where I feel at home and feel valued. It would mean a lot to me to get this club [to Super League].<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me personally, it is a challenge I am really relishing, to get back there and I know I am in a much better position now than I was when I was 20, when I was playing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his time in the top-flight with Hull, Harris, 28, conceded: \u201cI definitely wasn\u2019t ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a struggling Hull FC side and it was tough getting beat by 70 every week, but it was a challenge I enjoyed and looking back, there are things I have learned throughout my career that could have made me so much better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take accountability for that, I wasn\u2019t good enough. I have got a little chip on my shoulder that tells me I can do it and I am looking forward to getting back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grand Final loss would be a \u2018massive catastrophe\u2019 claims York Knights\u2019 captain<\/p>\n

York will go full-time next season, whatever division they are in and Harris reckons most of the squad are willing to take the \u201cmassive\u201d step of giving up other employment to continue their rugby career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got boys with kids and families to provide for that have very good jobs,\u201d he said. \u201cWith the money they earn from York, they are probably going to be taking pay cuts to go to Super League, if that\u2019s the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that shows what a good group and what good people we have. They want an opportunity to learn and improve and test themselves at the highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the majority of them team can take the step up and give it a real good fight, with a couple of additions the club have already announced.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt is exciting, but the talk isn\u2019t about next year. We have got a job to do this year and we are fully focused on that. Then in the off-season we might chat about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI play for memories with the boys, not even so much for silverware. Silverware is a nice bonus for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked so hard since November to get here. We are here now and we don\u2019t want to let that opportunity slip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we did, it would be a massive catastrophe for us all. I am fully focused on making sure we have some more memories to celebrate together and we can enjoy a bit of time after it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our\u00a0YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The captain hoping to lead York Knights into the big time has revealed why he has \u201ca chip…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-179882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}