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100 not out and Ryan's keen to end his career with the Tigers
CASTLEFORD TIGERS' fans favourite Ryan McGoldrick has set his sights on making 150 more appearances for the club.
The versatile Aussie will play his 100th game for the club when Tigers take on Bradford Bulls at Grattan Stadium on Sunday.
And he revealed today that he is keen to spend the rest of his career with Cas, despite originally planning to stay for just one year.
McGoldrick had two stints with Australian side Cronulla Sharks – sandwiching a spell in union at New South Wales Waratahs – before joining Cas in 2006 after they won a tug-of-war with Wests Tigers for his services.
"One hundred games is a nice milestone," McGoldrick said today. "It has come around pretty quickly.
"Back home, getting to 100 games takes a while. I have been here three-and-a-half years and it has come up already.
"To be honest, I never thought I would play 100 games – I was just coming over for a year, so it is pretty pleasing.
"I was thinking about it the other day and it's not unrealistic that I'll knock up another 100.
"I am setting myself a goal to play 200 to 250 matches for Cas and if I do that I'll have had a good time here.
"I never thought I would come to England and when I did I thought I wasn't going to stay more than one season, so it shows how much I have enjoyed it here.
"I have committed myself to Castleford for the next three years and I would like to finish my career here.
"If I do that, I'll be pretty close to 250 games and I would be happy with that."
McGoldrick's influential performances at full-back, centre, stand-off and loose-forward have attracted the attention of engage Super League's big guns and he was strongly linked with Wigan Warriors at the start of this season.
He said: "When that happens, you have to be realistic. You can't let too much emotion over-rule what's your job and your livelihood.
"But a lot of things come into it, not only monetary reasons – it's how happy you are, loyalty, all that sort of stuff.
"As long as they all match up, I am more than happy to stay here. That's my first preference."
The lure of playing for the Tigers in their new stadium is another major attraction for McGoldrick.
"I thought I'd be playing in it this year," he said. "Now it's looking like it might be towards the end of this deal.
"I'll have to see about an extension – maybe I can sign for the club until the new stadium is built!
"It would be a bonus for me to play in the new stadium and another thing is all the young talent coming through at the club.
"By the time I am finished, I will have seen a lot of young players come through and hopefully some of them will be key players for England.
"Michael Shenton, Joe Westerman and Richard Owen have all got an opportunity and there's others like Craig Huby as well.
"To look back on my time here and see all the players who have come through will be pretty pleasing."
McGoldrick rates winning promotion to Super League in 2007 – achieved through a Grand Final victory over Widnes Vikings – as a highlight of his time at Cas.
But he added: "The Leeds games when we beat them in 2006 and last year were pretty special.
"They are derbies, it's always a big crowd, Cas like to hate Leeds and Leeds like to hate Cas, so it is extra special winning those games."
Of his milestone match on Sunday, McGoldrick said: "It's an opportunity to do a double after we beat them earlier in the year.
"We missed that opportunity against Catalans last week, we set it up and we could have put a score on, but we let ourselves down.
"We got back on track against Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago and against Catalans we could have kicked on and maybe put another team out of the race for seventh or eighth spot.
"it's a big opportunity against Bradford and one we've got to take.
"It's not do-or-die yet, but it can very quickly become that."
“To look back on my time here and see all the players who have come through will be pretty pleasing.”
McGoldrick rates winning promotion to Super League in 2007 – achieved through a Grand Final victory over Widnes Vikings – as a highlight of his time at Cas.
But he added: “The Leeds games when we beat them in 2006 and last year were pretty special.
“They are derbies, it’s always a big crowd, Cas like to hate Leeds and Leeds like to hate Cas, so it is extra special winning those games.”
Of his milestone match on Sunday, McGoldrick said: “It’s an opportunity to do a double after we beat them earlier in the year.
“We missed that opportunity against Catalans last week, we set it up and we could have put a score on, but we let ourselves down.
“We got back on track against Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago and against Catalans we could have kicked on and maybe put another team out of the race for seventh or eighth spot.
“it’s a big opportunity against Bradford and one we’ve got to take.
“It’s not do-or-die yet, but it can very quickly become that.”
peter.smith@ypn.co.uk
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