Two years ago it seemed unlikely that captain Andrew Fawkes would ever lace up his boots again for Shaw Cross Sharks. However after declaring his retirement in 2013, Fawkes spent more time on the coaching side. He made his coaching berth with the second team however the man who has been at the club since he was seven years old decided he had to get back into competitive action: "I had really itchy feet from coaching, I missed the game, I gave myself pre-season to see how I felt and went from there."

Fawkes admitted that he doubted his longevity and didn't think he had any more left to give to the Dewsbury based squad. However after a year out of the game the man who has been part of Shaw Cross since he was just seven years old rediscovered his fitness and now wants to go on beyond this season: "I didn't think I had any more in me, but now I feel great and I feel I've got more rugby in me why not go two or three more years?"

Surely his decision was music to the ears of everybody at Shaw Cross as they look to build on a very successful fourth place finish last season and use Fawkes to help a very young squad. More good news for the club as Fawkes wants to build on his one year of coaching experience when he finally decides to hang it up for good. With some more coaching experience there is no reason why the home grown player can't become the next head coach of the first team.

Fawkes has changed his lifestyle to try and get more competitive rugby games under his belt in his advancing years and has admitted that fitness was not always his strong suit in the offseason: "In my early 20's I looked after myself a bit more but then hit a streak of just not bothering. Since my knee injury a couple of years ago I started eating healthier, started going to the gym and took it from there."

The current Shaw Cross captain speaks highly of the young squad and hopes that the conveyer belt of talent keeps on coming through the ranks. Fawkes has been particularly impressed with Sam Ottewell and his progression into the first team and hopes that more can follow in his footsteps. It's not just the young home grown players that the Sharks veteran has been impressed with, the new Australian recruits have also caught Fawkes' eye and he insists that the new recruits from the other side of the world will add something different to the team:
"With them being Australian the preconception is that they'll be very good rugby players anyway but these guys really are quality. Robbie [Byatt] had a great debut being man of the match and I'm sure when Matty gets his chance he'll shine - he's been throwing me around in training all week."

As for the rest of the season the captain has high hopes for Shaw Cross and wants the club to at the very least emulate last season's superb campaign but he knows it will be a tough challenge and says that the league has only got stronger this season.