STEVIE Ward had to shoulder a lot as he faced missing the Grand Final when his popped out of its socket.
Now he has to weigh up whether to further defy logic by heading to the World Cup with Wales.
SunSport understands the Leeds back-rower has been overlooked for a place in England’s 24-man party, which is named today.
However, the door to Wales, where his mother was born, is open.
But after leaving medics, fans, team-mates and players open-mouthed at playing in the Rhinos’ victory just eight days after dislocating his shoulder in the semi-final win over Hull, the decision rests on Ward.
He also revealed the agonising few hours he went through after doing the injury, which would not pop back in as the muscles had contracted – and that it was largely child’s play.
Ward, 23, said: “I played the full 80 minutes. I wanted to come off after 70 through fear of popping my shoulder out and end up in A&E for the celebrations!
“Now there’s going to be a few conversations with physios and specialists – there’s some thinking to be done over the World Cup.
“But it’s a World Cup in Australia, I’m more than fired up to take it to the next level.
“There were moments in the early hours of last Saturday I was giving in, I was giving in and moving on. I didn’t think I could go through another process, coming back from injury and missing a final.
“To have my shoulder still out at 9am in that pain – morphine wasn’t touching it – I probably couldn’t think straight.
“But there was one nurse who before I went to get it popped in. I said, tongue in cheek, ‘What do you reckon next week, Grand Final?’ And she said ‘Yeah, you’ll be alright, get it popped in and you’ll be alright.’
“There was a decision I had to make on Sunday. I picked my belief up and made the decision that I’d play and then everything came in around that; that mindset helped me pick it up this week to help play in a Grand Final and put a performance in.
“I knew from Monday I’d be playing. Obviously, I had to prove my fitness and get in the team but I wasn’t missing it.
“I’ve played all my life with sore shoulders. I can remember playing for Churwell Chiefs at 11 years old and playing Bulldogs at school I’d dislocated my AC joint.
“Two weeks later I put pads on and put bubble wrap over my left shoulder and ended up playing against Featherstone Lions!
“At 3am when I had to face sitting on that A&E bed for another seven hours and morphine wasn’t touching it, you’re facing up to the emotional pain of missing another final and all thoughts were going through my head.
“I thought, ‘Can I go through another process of coming back from injury and doing this?’ I said, ‘I don’t know if I could do this again.’”
Ward was not the only fairytale at Old Trafford. Rob Burrow bowed out in his 463rd and final Leeds match as a champion, for the EIGHTH time in a game dominated by two-try and two-drop-goal Danny McGuire on his last appearance before moving to Hull KR.
As the song goes, ‘The only man from Cas with a full-time job,’ still has one as he moves on to the coaching staff.
But the occasion did not pass the interchange hooker by, as he said: “To have won one trophy would’ve been good, to win the amount I have is something I never expected.
“Cas were big favourites but to perform that well against such a strong side is special. We’ve been building for that for the last four weeks, though.
“Anything else we’d put out over the season wouldn’t have been good enough but Danny has the skill, which is opportunism.
“He knows where to be and has a knack of being in the right place, which is a skill in its own right.
“And I’ll put the first pair of boots and the last up for auction for charity.”
Much talk was of old-timers Burrow and McGuire but it also saw the realisation of a teenage dream as 18-year-old full-back Jack Walker walked away with his first title.
And Adam Cuthbertson admitted things were very different for him when he was 18, but tipped the youngster as a World Cup possibility.
The Aussie, who defied a knee injury and a head cut to pull through and had motivational messages written on his arm strapping, said: “I think I was chasing girls and being happy about getting my driving license!
“Jack’s a different species, I don’t think he understands what pressure is.
“He’s a special talent and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was being looked at by England for the World Cup squad.”
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