By Andrew Henderson
Gateshead Thunder and Scotland |
 What a week! We have a new coach and we're through to the Carnegie Challenge Cup quarter-finals for the first time in the club's history. We worked really hard to knock out Oldham and to be drawn against St Helens is unbelievable. It will be a great experience for all our players and I'm glad we've been given a home tie. It'll give more of our fans a reminder of what top-flight rugby league is like. We played the game against Oldham at the Darlington Arena and got our second biggest crowd of the season, so I hope we can make it a more regular thing, both there and elsewhere in the north-east. That would help spread the rugby league gospel throughout the region.  Saints have won the Challenge Cup for the last three years |
To be in the quarter-finals of such a fantastic competition is a great achievement for the club. A lot of our players are young lads in their first ever year playing Championship rugby and now they're going to be playing some of the best players in the world. I'm kind of glad the BBC haven't chosen to televise us as there is a chance we could get walloped. If the cameras are there, some of the boys might have opted for ridiculous haircuts, too, to try to impress the ladies! A couple of the boys have already asked me for advice and I'm just trying to tell them not to get overawed by the occasion or opposition. We are all human beings, so they are not going to be playing against superheroes. It's just about belief and backing your own ability. We know it will be a tough ask, but I just want to see pride and passion. Then who knows what might happen. We saw Hunslet upset Huddersfield a few years ago, so we know it can be done. The build-up to the Oldham game was pretty disjointed, with the appointment of Steve McCormack as our new coach. Chris Hood, who had been our acting coach, took the news quite well and accepts he probably needs a bit more guidance.  | 606: DEBATE |
As for Steve, I know him really well having played under him for Scotland for the last few years. I've played against him, too, and he'll bring a different dynamic to the team and really lift the place. But Chris has done a wonderful job with limited resources. We've got a few new players coming in over the next few weeks, like Russ Aitken from Carcassonne and three boys from Pia with NRL experience. Russ has played for Melbourne in the NRL and featured in the 2008 Grand Final. He also played against Leeds in last season's World Club Challenge, so we're really excited to have him here. I'll have a word with the boss to see if we can have a team meal together to welcome the new boys. Or maybe get them involved in some team-building activity if we have a weekend off. We've also picked up two league wins since my last column, so things seem to be coming together nicely. I reckon there may have been a little hangover at the start of the season following the controversial departure of Dave Woods as coach, but we seem to be pulling together now. I think we're slowly starting to get our act together as a club, with a view to the next bid for Super League franchises in three years' time.  Russ Aitken played for Melbourne in the 2008 NRL Grand Final |
The banter at Gateshead is as good as ever. Luke Branighan still gets most of the grief, but loose forward Ryan Clarke is making us laugh at the moment. He's the self-proclaimed Don Juan of the team and seems to have a regular dating spot in Durham where he takes a different girl every week for coffee! He probably gets a discount. Then there's Jason Payne. He's been out injured for a fortnight and has gone from 98 to 105 kilos. He now looks like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, one of my favourite films. He's a good trainer, though, so I'm sure he'll shift that excess weight pretty quick. Finally, I thought Super League's Magic Weekend was awesome and was a great call to move it up to Scotland. It's at Murrayfield next year but after that I'd like to see it mixed up among the home nations and given a go in Ireland. The concept offers great value for money and expands the game throughout the UK. A weekend in Dublin would get me along every time! Andrew Henderson was talking to BBC Sport's George Riley
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