Tim Spears 'inspired' by York City Knights captaincy

Spears has been a vital part of the York team since joining from Featherstone in 2017 and coach James Ford recently hailed his leadership qualities within the squad.

“Tim’s a real leader and motivator," said Ford. “He demands focus from his team mates and he takes us as a team to a higher level which says a lot about him."

When asked about the role, Spears, 35, says it's something that comes naturally with his age.

"I’m obviously one of the older players and I’ve been captain for a number of years," said Spears.

"It’s a role that I enjoy, I don’t feel pressurised by it, I feel inspired by it.

"I try and lead by example. Just looking around the group, I think we’ve got leaders across the park who lead in different ways.

"Graeme Horne is someone who is a big players for us in the way that he plays the game and comes up with big plays.

"I try and have an influence on the younger lads and I can be vocal at times.

"I just try and give my best for the team, work as hard as I can and be the best that I can.

"I’m never going to run 80 metres or kick or 40-20, but I can physically impose myself on my opposite number.

"I’ve played the sport professionally for a number of years now and with that comes experience.

"I’ll always look to share that with the younger players in the team.

"But, I don’t try and do anything too differently than I would do if I wasn’t the captain. I just try to play my game and try and make sure that we’re hitting the key parts of our game that we aspire to as a team.

"I think as an older player I look more towards things like set completion, kicking to the correct areas and making the opposition begin sets in their corners.

"I try and stress those to the boys and I think as you get older, you realise how important those aspects of the game are, whereas younger players - myself included don’t tend too as much.

"But, at the end of the day, I just try to be myself and share any knowledge I have with the boys."