Mossop sets his comeback goals
LEE Mossop is confident he is returning to Wigan a better player from his experiences Down Under.
The Cumbrian prop was limited to just three games for Parramatta due to shoulder injuries.
Homesickness drove his decision to return to the UK.
But he feels he has developed personally and professionally from his stint in the NRL – and reckons Warriors will reap the rewards.
After his return was announced yesterday, Mossop told the Evening Post: “It sounds a bit daft saying it when I only played three NRL games, but I do feel I’m a better player now than when I left.
“I’d been in Wigan a long time and been lucky to have quite a bit of success and win some silverware.
“Going over there took me out of my comfort zone and it made me have to prove myself again.
“It’s not been easy, as you can imagine, going there as an English player and being injured, some fans didn’t like it – it’s like if Wigan sign an Australian who’s got an injury.
“That was the worse thing about it. But I think it made me develop as a person, mentally, and I’m better for it.”
Though he cut short his NRL stint he has no regrets about his decision to leave the Warriors.
“If I hadn’t gone it would always have played on my mind,” he said. “I turned it down once, with the Bulldogs, and now I can at least look back and say I experienced it and gave it a go.
“I’ve no regrets about giving it a go.
“But my missus had been homesick all year and towards the back end, I was feeling it. We thought we’d stick to our plan, do one more year and come back.
“But we had a little girl and that was a massive factor. She’s the first grandchild for both sets of parents, and little things kept adding up.
“It sounds cringey but the most important thing is our happiness and I’m not saying I would have been unhappy in Australia, but I know I’ll be happier here.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am to be back, I’m buzzing already.”
Mossop had surgery on his troubled right shoulder when he arrived at Parramatta, having initially dislocated the joint in the 2011 Challenge Cup Final.
Three games into his return, he suffered a fresh injury to his other shoulder.
But after undergoing surgery, he has been assured all his problems will be behind him once he makes a full recovery.
“I had just been rehabbing it, rather than having surgery,” he explained.
“I’d got away with it until then, but I knew if there was a certain player I wanted to get a shot on, I couldn’t do it because I couldn’t risk the shoulder coming out.
“Parra wanted me to get it sorted, which ruled me out of the first eight weeks of the season. Then, sod’s law, I came back and I did the other shoulder, which I’d not had any troubles with.
“But the surgeon said there’s only a three per cent failure risk, so hopefully I won’t have any more problems for the rest of my career.”
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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