Danny Brough has admitted being named the European Championship Player of the Tournament has put an extra spring in his step.
The Giants captain was instrumental in helping Scotland collect the first piece of silverware in their 20-year history.
Topping a Championship table that included France, Ireland and Wales also meant Scotland qualified to face England, Australia and New Zealand in the 2016 Four Nations series.
And Brough was delighted with the way things had gone after being determined to play so soon after suffering a ruptured testicle towards the end of the Super League season.
“I’m really pleased with the individual award and I wasn’t expecting it,” said Brough. I just tried to transfer my passion to the young lads. I love to win at everything I do and I think that showed.
“And what makes all this even more exciting is that we can now look forward to playing in the Four Nations.
“We are obviously under no illusions that we need to get more players into our squad but we’ve two years to build up to it.
“We’re behind the eight ball, we understand that, we are facing the best in the world but hopefully we can cause an upset. The spirit we showed in last year’s World Cup and now to win something on the back of it just shows that we are moving forward.”
Brough played in the tournament, despite the reservations of Giants chief Paul Anderson, who would have preferred him to have rested his injury.
But Scotland coach Steve McCormack was still full of praise for Anderson’s attitude over the matter.
“To be fair, Paul Anderson has been fantastic,” McCormack said. “He didn’t want Danny to play because of the injury he had, but he wouldn’t stand in Danny’s way.
“Danny has played and now he gets his reward. A couple of years ago he played for England against the Exiles because he wanted to play against the elite and now he’ll have that opportunity to do that with us in two years’ time.”
