Surprised Sneyd targeting England Knights

Castleford halfback Marc Sneyd is still a little bit surprised at some of the attention his performances have been getting this season.

The 23-year-old, currently on loan in West Yorkshire from Salford, has been one of Super League‘s top halfbacks in 2014. He has weighed in with 19 try assists, while scoring four tries of his own. He has also kicked 59 goals, and notched two drop goals as well.

Snyed believes that the Cas coaching staff have played a huge part in his progress.

“I probably wasn’t expect to be having as good a season as I am doing,” he admitted to Love Rugby League.

“But the coaches here at Cas are doing a really good job, and I’m pretty much learning every day.

“Pretty much everything Daryl Powell does is on the money. His attention to detail is outstanding.

“He’s got Danny Orr and Ryan Sheridan with him too, who are ex-players who have played at the highest level.

“It’s quite a good coaching set-up to be working with. They used to play halfback, but they were completely different players to each other.

“Learning little bits from each one of them has helped me out massively.

“Liam Finn is really good, too. He’s a really clever player. His organisation is really good.”

It looked last year as though Sneyd would participate in the World Cup with Mark Aston’s Ireland squad, along with Finn.

The incompletion of paperwork, however, meant that he did not end up being part of the campn. His international ambitions have now shifted focus too, partly as a result of that confusion.

“All the stuff that didn’t go through at the end of the World Cup has still not been resolved, as far as I know,” he said.

“But I’m hoping that I’d be up to playing in the England Knights at the end of the year.”

One man whom Sneyd is tipping for big things is Castleford hooker Daryl Clark. Sneyd believes that his team-mate is on the verge of breaking into the full England set-up.

“He is one of the best players on the team,” Snyed added.

“When Daz has a good game, he’s amazing.

“I actually don’t think the Knights is good enough for him. He could be playing for England, to be fair.”

One aspect of Sneyd’s game which has attracted comment this year is his place-kicking style. The round-the-corner run-up developed because his old routines had ceased to function properly.

“I used to kick a different way. Then, last year, after a bit of time off, I went over to Cas,” he explained.

“I did a bit of kicking practice, and my technique just folded on me.

“It just wasn’t there any more, it had stopped working. So I had a bit of pratice with other ways, and the most unusual way of kicking seemed to be the best way of kicking for me.”