Graeme Horne: 'It would be a boost to have my brother back – I just don't want him in my place'

There are not many worse things that can happen to you in your rugby league career than playing in every round of the Challenge Cup and then being left out for the final.

Not many, that is, apart from being left out in favour of your brother.

That has been the possible scenario which has been confronting Hull's Graeme Horne during the run-up to the meeting with St Helens at Wembley tomorrow.

The younger Horne is the man in possession, but his better known elder brother has been breathing down his neck. Richard has been passed fit after recovering from a career-threatening neck injury. If he, and one or two others, time their emergence from the club's injury nightmare well enough, Graeme could be the man under pressure and history could just repeat itself.

"I'd played in all the previous games in 2005, including the semi-final against St Helens, but John Kear decided to go with Chris Chester for his experience in the final," he recalls. "I was absolutely gutted, but you have to respect the coach's decision. I didn't enjoy the final all that much, but this year I get my chance to make up for it."

At 23, Horne now has more experience himself, not all of it as painful as being 18th man on the biggest day of the rugby league calendar. "I've played the last eight or nine games and I think my form has been pretty good, so hopefully I've done enough. I've set out to make myself hard to leave out."

The man Horne has had to convince, Richard Agar, has so far been a firm supporter of his claims. Since taking over as coach in mid-season, he has not left him out and has been rewarded by a rarity for a Hull player this season – consistent application and form during a Super League campaign which has never really got going.

It is not the way this season was mapped out. Hull and their then coach, Peter Sharp, were sufficiently confident about their squad that they planned to send the younger Horne on loan to Doncaster in National League Two. In the last year of his Hull contract that would surely have been the precursor to a permanent departure.

"The idea was that I would be playing at a better level than in the reserves, but it never happened. Right from the start, there were too many injuries, so they cancelled the loan and the rest is history," he says.

The upshot has been that, after a 2007 season in which he battled against his own injuries, including a serious back problem, he has been a regular this season. He has also established himself as his own man, rather than the sibling of a Great Britain international and established local hero.

The two grew up in a Hull FC-supporting family in alien East Hull – Kingston Rovers territory – and, with three years separating them, it was always Richard's developing career that was in the foreground.

For a while it seemed as though Graeme might develop along similar lines – as an elusive, creative half-back. "But then I kept on growing and went off in a different direction. Because I had a bit of size, I've been used in the second row as well as the centres. I'm not too bothered, just as long as I'm in the team."

For his first final as a head coach, Agar faces some complex selection issues revolving around the fitness or otherwise of players like Motu Tony, Matt Sing, Adam Dykes and Todd Byrne. Then there is Richard Horne, although giving him his first game since April at Wembley looks the riskiest of high-risk strategies.

"He'll be tested this week, like everyone else," says his brother. "It would be a boost to have him back, because he's a big-match player and this is our biggest game of the season. I just don't want him taking my place."

That would be the ultimate irony for the younger Horne, whose value to the team has been recognised recently by the offer of a new contract for next season. "I love this club and I never wanted to leave, so I came back to prove a point. So far, I'd like to think I have done.

"Richard Agar is a really good coach. His man-management has been outstanding and that's what I've liked since he took over."

As a veteran of the semi-final victory over Saints in 2005, Horne believes he is immune to the shock and awe they can inspire in some opponents.

"They have some different players, of course, but we've had close games against them this year, so we know what we can do. We'll have to play to our very best, which we haven't done all season. We need to produce our performance of the year."

Twin towers: Brothers at Wembley

Kevin and Bob Beardmore (Castleford)

Identical twins, the Beardmores played together in Cas' 1986 victory over Hull KR. Scrum-half Bob was man of the match.

Kevin and Tony Iro (Wigan)

Kevin was one of the most exciting young players in the world when Wigan signed him in 1987. Elder brother Tony played alongside him in the 1988 and 1989 wins over Halifax and St Helens.

David and Paul Hulme (Widnes)

David had already played in the 1984 defeat of Wigan. Almost a decade later, he played under the captaincy of younger brother Paul in the defeat by the same opponents. Notoriously uncompromising, they rejoiced in the joint nickname of "the Brothers Grim".