The Big Interview: Jai Field

Discuss all things Wigan Warriors. Comments and opinions on all aspects of the club's performance are welcome.
Post Reply
josie andrews
Posts: 35576
Joined: Sun Jun 10, 2007 10:17 pm
Location: Wigan
Contact:

The Big Interview: Jai Field

Post by josie andrews »

SHELLHARBOUR IS a long old way from Wigan, roughly 10,594 miles to be exact.

But it is in this Greater Manchester town on the other side of the world where Shellharbour native Jai Field has, not just found his feet, but started to reach his full potential as a rugby league professional.

Make no bones about it, Field has been the clear star of this 2022 Super League season. He sits on top of the Man of Steel voting with 18 points, seven above Tui Lolohea. Right now Field is equal top try-scorer, with Tommy Makinson and Ken Sio, and only Matty Russell has busted more tackles.

No one has made more clean breaks than the Aussie this year, and only Ash Handley and Makinson have made more metres than him in the competition. The fullback has set alight Super League with his long-busting runs, try-scoring feats, speed, step and ability to bamboozle defences.

He has been a joy to watch.

Considering how badly his debut season went at Wigan, marred by a serious hamstring injury, it has been a remarkable turnaround for the 24-year-old.

Field was born in Shellharbour, part of the regional NSW city of Wollongong, and grew up in a rugby league-mad family with two Parramatta Eels-supporting parents. As a youngster he played OzTag, touch footy and athletics, as well as the 13-man game, and showed promise.

“I’ve got a rugby league family,” he told rugbyleaguehub.com Long Reads.

“I did sprinting and athletics until I was 12 or 13. I also did Nippers [surf lifesaving]. I played most of my junior footy at Albion Park.

“I played a lot of OzTag and touch in the summer. Touch is great for your skills. I really credit touch for my skills.”

Unsurprising considering his speed, Field represented his state in sprinting in his youth. But he admits a career in athletics was never his goal, with rugby league always taking centre stage.

“I ran at state level for NSW in the 100m and 200m, I had a few medals. But it was always going to be footy. Athletics was just something I fell into.”

Illawarra is one of Australia’s great nurseries for rugby league and Field spent his formative years at Albion Park, the same junior club as Jason Hooper, Aaron Gorrell, Drew Hutchinson and Adam Clune. He later played for the Shellharbour Sharks, the club that produced Kangaroos Matt Cooper, Luke Bailey, Trent Merrin, Ron Costello and others.

Field came through the grades at the St George Illawarra Dragons, eventually making his first-grade debut in 2017 as a fresh-faced 19-year-old halfback. He made three appearances that year, two the next and then six in 2019 before he was released.

It was a tough start to life in the cut-throat NRL.

After a move to Leeds in 2020 broke down, he secured a deal with Parramatta. But life at the Eels would be anything but straightforward. Despite scoring three tries in six NRL matches, Mitchell Moses and Dylan Brown were ahead of him in the pecking order and Field was let go at the end of the season.

Super League came calling again, and that November he inked a two-year deal with Wigan.

However, adversity struck in the opening game of the 2021 Super League campaign when he badly tore a hamstring against Leigh. His season was over before it had even begun.

To Field’s credit, he knuckled down and ripped into his rehab amid the gloom and lockdowns of Covid-ravaged England. Matty Peet took the reins as head coach, and there was talk about the fullback not being in Peet’s plans and being potentially offloaded to another English club.

But Field worked hard, proved his worth and the rest has been history. The former Eel and Dragon’s form has been so good that Bevan French has been forced onto the wing. He is thriving so much at Wigan that he has already signed a contract extension.

NRL interest remains, and the Aussie admits he still harbours ambitions of playing in the competition again one day: “I would definitely want to go home at some point.”

Field concedes he probably wasn’t ready for the intensity of the NRL in his youth, but has no regrets.

“I really enjoyed my time there at both the St George Illawarra and Parramatta systems and I learnt a lot,” he says.

“I probably wasn’t physically up to it [at that stage]. Things happen for a reason. I learnt a lot from both.”

Older, wiser, and more battle-hardened, Field is making the most of his time at Wigan. The mood in the Warriors camp this season is in sharp contrast to the fractious nature of last year.

“It’s just the belief all the coaches have put into the side,” he says.

“There’s been a few structural changes that have taken the shackles off. They’ve put confidence in me, it’s been enjoyable. It’s a nice environment to be in.”

Currently, the Warriors sit in third on the Super League ladder, just four points below leaders St Helens. But the biggest challenges come this weekend against Huddersfield in the Challenge Cup final.

Wigan has a long and proud history of Aboriginal players who have starred in the cherry and white. Steve Renouf, John Ferguson, Matty Bowen – the list goes on.

French and Field are also on that list. The 24-year-old hails from the Wiradjuri tribe, and while his Indigenous heritage has not always been a big part of his life, that changed massively during his school years.

“It’s on my mum’s side,” he explained.

“I didn’t know a lot about it when I was growing up but it definitely came to my attention early in high school. School introduced me and my sister into it. It was impactful

Shellharbour is best known for its beautiful beaches, surfing, snorkelling, diving and national parks. It is a sleepy south coast town.

Wigan is best known for being a former mining town, the home of mint balls and for a love of pies. The surfing there isn’t so great. But rugby league is something these two communities have in common.

Now they share Jai Field as well, and both will be hoping he can shine at the home of Spurs this Saturday in the Challenge Cup final

https://rugbyleaguehub.com/the-big-inte ... d-2/?amp=1
Anyone can support a team when it is winning, that takes no courage.
But to stand behind a team, to defend a team when it is down and really needs you,
that takes a lot of courage. #18thMan
Post Reply