Rugby league great Malcolm Reilly ready for Red Shed Q & A

Reilly, who played more than 300 games for Castleford and also coached Great Britain, will be quizzed by former Tigers players Brian Lockwood and Ian Orum from 2.30pm at Wakefield Labour Club (The Red Shed), in Vicarage Street.

An hour earlier, rugby League writer and historian Mike Rylance will talk about his new book, The Struggle and the Daring – the Remaking of French Rugby League, which follows on from The Forbidden Game and traces the history of French rugby league from the Liberation in 1944 to the present day, highlighting among many other things how the game restarted, the amazing exploits of the France team in the 1950s, the continuing struggle against rugby union and the present upsurge as a result of the Catalans’ success.

Entry is free, but there will be a collection for the Rugby League Benevolent Fund.

Meanwhile, Danny Ratcliffe won three top honours in Thornhill Trojans’ annual awards. Ratcliffe – a former Hunslet player – was named Trojans’ first-team player of the year and also collected the players’ and supporters’ prizes.

The first-team coach’s special award went to Liam Morley and Nick Mitchell was most improved player.

‘A’ team awards winners were: player of the year – Jonathan Hellings and Josh Clough (joint winners); players’ player – Josh Gearey; supporters’ player of the year – Josh Gearey; most improved – Nick Sharp.

Club Awards: Roy Harrison clubman of the year – Matt North, for the production of Trojans TV on social media; Ged Brentnall Memorial Award (most outstanding junior) – Nathaniel Broadhead; David Schofield Award – Anthony Harris (forward of the year); Rod Brook Award – Bethan Oates (girls’ under-14s coach and team founder); Stanley Gath Award – Stuart Springett, for his work as club ambassador; John Bragg Award – Jake Ratcliffe, organiser of the club’s inaugural junior tournament in the summer. Special Presentation – Kim Ward, Pauline Ratcliffe and Deborah Ratcliffe.