GREENOCK Wanderers’ free weekend gave new club captain Murray MacDonald the rare opportunity for a Saturday off — but he spared some time to speak to the Greenock Telegraph about his thoughts, aspirations and hopes for the remainder of the season that lies ahead.

MacDonald took over the captain’s role in June this year and had big boots to fill after Brendan McGroarty, the previous incumbent, left for pastures new at Old Anniesland, where he now plays for Glasgow Hawks.

McGroarty was an inspirational leader but the new skipper was neither overawed nor intimidated by the departing centre’s imposing legacy and has taken to his latest role with relative ease.

The new captain has been a regular pick in the Wanderers first team for four seasons and alongside second row partner Matt Gray can hold his head high and walk proudly amongst the best lock forwards to have represented the club in contemporary times.

Highly-rated players like Paul Rae and George Hunter from the 1980s, the indefatigable Graham ‘Rivet’ Bolster from the 90s and of course not forgetting a trio of antipodean stars, Kip Frame, Andy Tippet and Kane Frazer, all played in the boiler house with distinction and set the benchmark of performance for the modern day players to aspire to and the current lock-forward pairing have not been found wanting in attaining those standards.

MacDonald and Gray are the two latest stars to join this august band and, although Wanderers are having a difficult season this term, it is not down to the lack of effort from these two players, who rise to the occasion on a weekly basis.

MacDonald is a Greenock lad, born and bred, and he came through the ranks at Wanderers where he joined the youth rugby section 17 years ago. He was educated at Greenock Academy and his sporting interest in rugby developed at an early age and he was the Academy’s 1st XV captain for two seasons and also played his way into the Glasgow Schools team and represented the District at Under-16 and under-18 level.

On leaving school he played senior rugby for Wanderers and made his first-team debut in 1999 when he came on as a substitute in a late season league match against old rivals Ardrossan Academicals.

Since then he has been a regular in the first-team squad and apart from two spells when he lived outwith the area he has featured at top team level every season.

When living in the United States of America he played for Chicago Blaze and when resident in London he signed for East London RFC, who play their home games at Memorial Field in the West Ham district of the city. MacDonald had a starring role in their 2009-10 league championship winning season and was awarded the club’s Player of the Year Trophy.

MacDonald returned to Inverclyde in 2011 and resumed his Wanderers career and was immediately thrust into the first team where he has remained ever since, being honoured in the summer with his appointment as captain.

The new skipper accepted the job with his eyes wide open and was aware that the campaign was going to be a challenging one both with the quality of opponents that his side would have to face and due to the fact that they lost several key players during the close season.

Despite that he has thrown himself into the role with impressive enthusiasm and gusto and has led by example both on and off the park.

MacDonald said: “It’s been a hard campaign so far and we acknowledge that we are up against some excellent sides but we always back ourselves to do well every week.

“I am confident we will remain in the division and to do so we will have to beat the teams around us during the second half of the season and I genuinely believe we are capable of doing that.

“The players and coaches are working extremely hard to ensure we maintain our league status and that is our goal for the remainder of the season.” Away from rugby the Wanderers skipper resides with his partner Lauren in Gourock and is the proprietor of Pristi-Clean which is a domestic, commercial and industrial cleaning business and spends his rare leisure time indulging his passion for the other hoops, Glasgow Celtic, whenever he gets the opportunity.

With Wanderers’ season about to get interesting though with several big games on the horizon, the captain will be fully focused on Wanderers’ fortunes and if his attitude, commitment and zeal for the club is replicated by his players then the locals will have nothing to fear in the months ahead.

Wanderers are sponsored by Texas instruments.