Thursday 16 October 2014 12:26, UK
Huddersfield Giants' playmaker Danny Brough will buck the trend by putting country before club when the European Championship begins this weekend.
The 2013 Man of Steel, who continues to be ignored by England, is prepared to risk upsetting his Huddersfield coach Paul Anderson by playing for Scotland, who open their campaign against John Kear's Wales in Workington on Friday.
Brough, who led the Bravehearts to the knockout stages of the 2013 World Cup, is joined in Steve McCormack's squad by Joe Wardle, but two other Giants team-mates, Craig Kopczak and Larne Patrick, made themselves unavailable for Wales and Scott Grix and Anthony Mullally similarly opted to put their club's interests ahead of those of Ireland, who play their first match against France in Dublin on Saturday.
Brough says he not only intends to play in all three games for Scotland, but will forego the chance to put his feet up by returning to his club straight afterwards for the start of pre-season training.
I enjoy playing for Scotland, I get on well with the lads and I have a good crack with Steve McCormack. I'm not having any more time off after I've played this any way, I'm going straight back to training.
"I just want to get back on the pitch as quickly as I can to put the poor back end of the season behind me," Brough said. “Baloo (Paul Anderson) gave me the option and I chose to come and play.
“I enjoy playing for Scotland, I get on well with the lads and I have a good crack with Steve McCormack. I'm not having any more time off after I've played this any way, I'm going straight back to training.
"It's something I enjoy doing. I'm not one that likes to sit at home and dwell on things. I get a bit bored, I like to be doing something. My wife is happy for me to do it, we might get away for a week later in the year."
Brough is one of eight survivors from the Bravehearts team that lost 40-4 to New Zealand in the World Cup quarter-finals last November, with McCormack naming eight uncapped players in his 20-man squad including five products from the domestic league.
The prize for the winners of the 2014 European Championship is a place alongside England, Australia and New Zealand in the 2016 Four Nations Series and Brough admits that was another factor in his decision to make himself available.
"Most definitely, to go into a Four Nations playing against the top three teams in the world would be a great achievement," he concluded.
"But if you put one of these teams in as they are now, they wouldn't have a chance against those three. That's why the competition needs to be a lot stronger. The clubs need to release the players. If they get picked for their country and they're not injured, they should let them play."
Kear, who has coached both England and France in the past and succeeded Iestyn Harris in the aftermath of Wales' disappointing World Cup, shrugs off the absence of big names from his 20-man squad, which contains 11 potential debutants.
"We'd have loved to have the full-time contingent but you have to get on with it," Kear said. "This is a great opportunity for some young people who haven't been on this stage to show how good they are."
Scotland (from): D Addy (Bradford), J Barlow (Swinton, D Brough (Huddersfield, capt), L Clarke (Edinburgh Eagles), S Esslemont (Hull KR), B Hellewell (Featherstone), A Hurst (Tweed Heads Seagulls), B Kavanagh (Widnes), C Kilday (Wakefield), N Massey (Canterbury Bulldogs), F Murphy (Edinburgh Eagles), B Phillips (Workington), C Phillips (Workington), G Ramsay (Easterhouse Panthers), D Scott (Doncaster), L Senter (Halifax), O Thomas (London Broncos), A Walker (Hull KR), J Walker (Leigh), J Wardle (Huddersfield).
Wales (from): J Burke (Barrow), D Fleming (Castleford), R Williams (Central Queensland), T Hughes (Coventry), M Barron, R Hough (Gateshead), I Duffy (Gloucestershire All Golds), O Olds (Ipswich Jets, Australia), O Griffiths, C Roets (North Wales), Y Parker (Oxford), A Bateman, P Carleton, P Emanuelli, M Evans, C Farrer, K Scrivens, J Sheridan (all South Wales), L Reece (Toowoomba), P Lupton (Workington, capt).
