Cunningham ready for farewell

St Helens captain Keiron Cunningham is hoping to end his career on a high by helping St Helens reach a fourth consecutive Engage Super League Grand Final this weekend.

Saints will face Huddersfield in a Qualifying Semi-final at GPW Recruitment Stadium on Friday night and Cunningham, who has played for the club for 17 years, is hoping his final appearance in front of a home crowd will be a winning one

“I’ve had a long career at the club,” said the hooker. “I set myself a goal to be playing in a Grand Final at the end of my career and I’m delighted to be in a position to achieve that.

“We’ve got one more game in which we’re playing a very talented Huddersfield side. They proved against Warrington what they can do to the top teams so we can’t take them lightly.

“We’ll have to play as though our life depends on it because this is our last game at Knowsley Road and we don’t want to go out with a  defeat.”

With no second chances, Cunningham is all too aware that defeat will spell an end to the season and close the curtains on what has been a long and successful career.

“I’m in the frame of mind that this is my last game,” he said. “I have to go out and play it as if it’s my last game. If we progress and get through then I’ll have one more go at it. Fingers crossed we’ll do well.

“We’ve just got to go out and do our best and if our performance isn’t good enough then we’ll get beat, it’s a simple as that.”