Leeds Rhinos' Stevie Ward wins battle of body and mind

Ward was in hospital, in pain and waiting for a dislocated shoulder to be reset.

Seven days later he played the full 80 minutes of a sapping clash with Castleford Tigers and the agony and upset suddenly seemed worthwhile.

Ward’s recovery from the injury suffered in Rhinos’ semi-final win over Hull, eight days before the Old Trafford showpiece, was the most remarkable story of Leeds’ eighth Super League triumph.

The 23-year-old damaged a shoulder in the 2012 Grand Final win over Warrington Wolves, followed by a dislocation the following season.

Two weeks before the 2015 title decider he sustained serious knee damage and did not play again for a year. When the shoulder went, he felt he had reached the end of the road.

Speaking after Rhinos’ 24-6 triumph at Old Trafford he said: “There were moments in the early hours of Saturday morning [the day after the semi-final] 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.

“At 3am when I had to face sitting on that A and 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 spoke to Mac [coach Brian McDermott], I spoke to Gary [Hetherington, Rhinos’ chief executive].

“I even mentioned it to them. I said I don’t know if I could do this again?

“So to be in this position right now it is surreal. It’s a bit of a shock. The top feels so much better from the bottom.”

Ward said a chance remark by a nurse helped him turn things around.

“My shoulder was still out at 9am Saturday morning and I was in pain – morphine wasn’t touching it,” he recalled.