IF AN athlete draws attention to himself through anything other than his ability, he may be asking for trouble — including, in a physical sport like rugby league, special attention from the opposition. Yet those watching today’s televised Challenge Cup semi-final between Wakefield and Hull won’t be able to miss Danny Brough. He’ll be the one whose hair matches his red, white and blue Wakefield shirt.

It’s always been the bigger the game, the dafter the hairstyle with Brough, and thankfully, the bigger the game, the better the half-back has played. For Hull against Leeds in the 2005 Challenge Cup final, he had a mullet with blue highlights and was a popular choice as man of the match. For Castleford, with hair matching his orange and black shirt, he ran last year’s National League Grand Final.

As John Kear, his coach at Hull and now Wakefield, put it when he signed Brough from Castleford before the start of the season: “When there is a big game you know Danny will step up to the plate.” So when Brough reaches for the hair dye it is, in a way, a statement of intent.

Of today’s game the 25-year-old says: “Neither team has been as consistent as they’d like recently, especially us, but I don’t think form counts if you can rise to the occasion. The key is who wants it most. The main thing is to give your all. You shouldn’t be able to walk off the pitch, you should have to crawl off after a game like this.”

Brough’s quick thinking and speed off the mark around the play-the-ball should be one of the Wildcats’ most potent threats. “In the past few games we have got away from doing the little things right, that commitment here and there that can make all the difference,” he says. “If we can’t find that for a semi-final we shouldn’t be out there.”

A capacity crowd at Doncaster’s Keepmoat stadium will include a large contingent from Brough’s family, and his ration of complimentary tickets only went so far. “I had to buy 11 earlier this week,” he says with a smile.

ON TV TODAY
Second semi-final, Wakefield Trinity v Hull FC
3.10pm BBC2