Luke Gale opens up on retirement fears, joining Keighley Cougars and ill-fated Hull FC spell

The 34-year-old found himself a free agent for the first time in his career on the back of a frustrating season with the Black and Whites.

As Gale waited for an offer that got the juices flowing again, the threat of retirement felt real.

"I'll be the first to admit I'd come home some days and say to my partner, 'I could well be done here'," he said.

"That's why Keighley was such a good thing, because the longer you're out of training and the club environment, the more you start to think.

"The minute I don't have any fire or the belief I can go out and compete, I'll retire. I'm not at that stage yet."

Gale attracted interest from clubs in Super League and even Australia before agreeing a one-year deal with ambitious League 1 champions Keighley.

The veteran half-back fielded a call about a top-30 NRL contract but the timing was not right.

"There were loads of different things I could have done," said Gale.

"I'm not getting any younger so to move out there with your family is a tough one.

"I've been lucky enough to spend time with my kids and take a step back from rugby league which I've done for 15 years.

"We came to Keighley and they're a club with ambition and the owners are great people. It made complete sense.

"I thought the Championship was an open one this year. I like the way Keighley play and there's a buzz about it. Put all them together and it was something that made sense."

Gale – the 2017 Super League Man of Steel – is one of the most high-profile signings for the 2023 Championship season.

He is fresh from two challenging years that saw him stripped of the captaincy at Leeds Rhinos and fail to put his stamp on a struggling Hull outfit as skipper.

A five-match ban picked up two games into his spell at the MKM Stadium set the tone for a forgettable campaign.

"Hull was a strange one," he said. "Things didn't work out and they seemed to fall off.

"I play my best footy with a smile on my face and if you saw me last year, I did become a bit disillusioned with the game.

"You could see that I wasn't happy and I probably had no love for it, hence the reason I took a bit of time off at the end of the year and tried to freshen things up.

"It's worked and hopefully I can get back to playing with a smile on my face and playing the rugby that I want to play.

"Whether it's a year or two, I've definitely got some more footy to play."

A move to the Championship takes Gale away from the spotlight after spending virtually his entire career to date at the top level.

He was comfortable dropping down to the second tier despite the way it ended at Hull.

"I've played 15 years and 350 career games in Super League," said Gale. "I don't need to prove to anyone that I'm a Super League player.

"That's why I was happy to take a step down rather than going to a lower end club just to play Super League for another year.

"I don't need to prove anything to myself or anyone else."

Gale has joined a club on the up after Keighley won every game in 2022 to secure a return to the second tier.

Rhys Lovegrove's playing style excites Gale, as too does the slower nature of the Championship.

"It probably doesn't have the speed of Super League," he said.

"I'm not getting any younger and my legs definitely aren't getting any faster, so it kind of suits me.

"I'm bringing experience to this young side. It might take a little while because we're not playing in a normal way.

"It's a different way, I've never played this way before, and it's something I'm looking forward to because you're never too old to learn."

While the Championship may be on the slower side, it is no less ferocious.

Gale, who represented England in the World Cup final at the end of a golden 2017, is bracing himself for some rough treatment this year.

The scrum-half is viewing it as just one of the challenges he and the Cougars will face along the way.

"Everyone keeps asking me if I'll have a target on my back and I guess we'll see in round one against Featherstone," said Gale, a Challenge Cup winner with Leeds in 2020.

"Hopefully we'll make our mark in the Championship. We're under no illusions because historically any team that comes up has struggled.

"We're not saying we're going to come out and win the league; we just want to be competitive and reach the top six."