#EaglesRetro - Aston on successful 2015 season

11/04/2020

Ahead of the second instalment of #EaglesRetro, which will see a live-stream of Sheffield Eagles’ victory over Wakefield Trinity in the 2015 Super 8s Qualifiers, Mark Aston looks back on another successful season.

DF: 2015 was another good year for the Eagles after playoff heartache the season before. What are your best memories from that side? 

MA: Certainly getting into the middle eights and competing against the Super League teams. Three out of those four games we were winning which was a massive achievement for a part-time team against Super League sides.

The win against Wakefield will rank as big as any game the Eagles, at least the new one, has been involved in.

The game against Salford, we were winning something like 24-6 after 25 minutes. They did come back to beat us but we showed that we can compete at that level.

DF: We talked about keeping the core together through 2012/2013 and the majority were still here in 2015 too. How important was that for the top four push and competing against Super League sides? 

MA: I always say that continuity will bring the consistency you look for. We had a special group again that were very committed and had a nice balance between them.

They had the inner belief and confidence to do things and it was easy for the coaches as they managed and challenged themselves to be better.

I spoke highly of Dom Brambani in our last interview as we went back to 2013 and it was the same here. We had Misi Taulapapa in the team and these players brought the best out of each other and kept one another in line.

They were easy to coach and I do remember the playoffs and that we watched some video on a Salford winger being very tight from kickoff and we played around him to score.

That was how easy it was. We could show them things on video and they’d go out there and do it. It was all worthwhile.

DF: One player we didn’t discuss from the 2013 squad, as I knew we could cover him here, was Scott Turner. After arriving from Dewsbury, he soon became a fan’s favourite. How reliable was he out on that flank? 

MA: He was a champion and a character. I spoke about the characters in the game, or lack of them, and Scott Turner was one of them in the changing rooms and the training field but he would score those tries.

Whether they kicked high, kicked low, one-on-one in the corner, he would get over. You see some spectacular tries with the one-handed groundings and that was Scott too.

He’d put his body where it needed to go. We missed him out of the 2013 discussion but let’s talk about the offload in the 2012 playoff final for Q’s try against Fev! How did he get that away?

He came through a good system at Cas, went to Dewsbury and probably lost his way a little bit but proved to be a great signing for us. One of those kids that we have enjoyed and had the privilege to coach.

I never wanted Scott to go but he has a very good job that is important to him. I’ll have him back tomorrow, a champion of a man.

DF: We added to the squad with eight signings. Those included Steve Thorpe, Tony Tonks and John Davies in the pack. All three were almost ever-presents, helping us to that top four finish? 

MA: Thorpie was a champion too. We got him in from Australia after seeing him play for Easts Tigers. Karl Briggs had put me on to him and told me to have a look. He was great and had a top year for us.

Tonka gave us that impact from the bench, as did Johnny Davies. You’re only as strong as your bench and in those years, we had a massive bench that could come on and change the game.

Thorpie was a starter. He was hard, tough and really complemented the likes of Mitch Stringer.

DF: We went close against Leigh at home in the regular season but picked up big results against Bradford and Fev. We bedded in well at the Keepmoat didn’t we? 

MA: What a great facility. There was no doubt about it.

We played at Owlerton and the tight pitch there certainly didn’t suit us. But you put them on a pitch like the Keepmoat and you see what happens.

We are indebted to a number of clubs and what Donny did for us that year was great.

We loved it, albeit outside of Sheffield but the pitch, the facility helped us deliver that expansive brand of rugby league.

DF: Moving on to what we’ll show on Sunday. That Wakefield game; the send-off for the players leaving, the result, the atmosphere. That shows what the club can produce on and off the field doesn’t it?

MA: Absolutely, and it was great to play at a class place like Bramall Lane. It was my birthday too which made it a little bit more special!

It was fitting as we came close in the other games; beating KR at Bramall Lane at one stage, beating Salford at theirs.

The players, and everything we did, were outstanding. Bramall Lane and the Keepmoat, the home grounds we played at in 2015, are probably two of the best places you can play rugby league.

DF: As you have mentioned, we performed well against Hull KR and Salford before that Wakefield game. Is there almost a ‘what if’ thought when you look back to 2015?

MA: We were close, certainly. The send-off for the players in 2015, after the performances they put in, was deserved. The Wakefield game epitomised what we were as a team. We were close to Super League as a part-time team with a full-time mentality.

We should have kicked on from there but unfortunately didn’t. We invested the money made into going full-time. People think it wasn’t the right thing but I disagree, I think it was but of course if I had known what I know now we probably wouldn’t have. You go full-time thinking you’ll be full-time forever.

It was the right reason but it didn’t work out as we lost our investor. We lost a number of players as they had good jobs.

We had a few special years but I know the years afterwards were tough. We were successful and we finished off well against Wakefield.

The performances in all our middle eights games against Super League sides helped create one of the best seasons for Sheffield Eagles so far.

By Dan Fowler