Steve McCormack was the head coach of Scotland from 2004 to 2017, the longest serving coach in the nation’s history – but he is also well known in Cumbria for his stints at Whitehaven and Barrow.
McCormack also coached at Salford, Widnes, Gateshead, Swinton and Gloucester in over 20 years in the game and is highly respected for his achievements in the game.
In fact the Wigan-born McCormack – a big fan of the town’s football club Wigan Athletic where he was a former mascot – has selected three of the players he coached at Whitehaven where won 49 of the 63 games he was in charge before joining Widnes in 2005.
McCormack, 51, is not coaching these days but has a key job in the game as director of wellbeing and welfare at Rugby League Cares and England Rugby League.
So what of the players he has chosen from Whitehaven – starting with his right winger Craig Calvert.
He says: “There’s been loads of good wingers I’ve coached but I’m going to say Craig Calvert in this team. He was on the wing to David Seeds, I think Darren Albert beat Calvert in a race for the fastest player in the game here at Robin Park, but Calvert was just quality.
“Similar to Seedsy, he could’ve stepped up to Super League but he was at Sellafield and his family were settled up there in Cumbria, but I’d have picked him in any team I had. I’ve never see anything like him pace-wise, but he was tough and hard too.”
As centre partner McCormack went for David Seeds and said: “David was a centre for me during my time at Whitehaven, a record try-scorer for Whitehaven and a Hall of Famer there. Without doubt he could have stepped up to Super League, but he had a very good job at Sellafield.
“He did really well, was consistent, prolific, defended well. I’ve got no hesitation in saying that he could’ve been a top class Super League player. He is a Whitehaven legend, but Seedsy could’ve made the step up and played for a Wigan or St Helens.”
The third Whitehaven player is Aaron Lester and McCormack said: “Aaron was one of a couple of Kiwi players that came over to Whitehaven in the 90s.
“Throughout my three or four years at Whitehaven, Aaron was a standout in that division and could play 9 or 13. He could’ve stepped up to play in Super League as well, his brother Stuart played at Wigan. Aaron had everything, he was first class.”
His full line-up is: 1. Lachlan Coote (Scotland); 2. Craig Calvert (Whitehaven); 3, David Seeds (Whitehaven); 4. David Peachey (Widnes); 5. Martin Offiah (Salford); 6. Peter Wallace (Scotland); 7. Danny Brough (Scotland); 8. Terry O’Connor (Widnes); 9. Ian Henderson (Scotland); 10. Luke Douglas (Scotland); 11. David Hulme (Salford); 12. Morgan Smithies (Wigan); 13. Aaron Lester (Whitehaven).
