Skipper keen to play and stay

[josie andrews]

Sean O’Loughlin keen to play on for Wigan

35-year-old skipper says he’ll play on as long as he’s contributing

O’Loughlin says Wigan can take a lot from comeback win against Catalans

Sean O’Loughlin says he will play on for the Warriors as long as he’s contributing to the team.

The Warriors skipper put in a man of the match performance in Saturday’s win over Catalans after moving from loose forward to stand off midway through the match.

Shaun Wane said after the game that he wanted O’Loughlin to play until he is 45, “I don’t think I’ll make 45!” Laughed the captain.

On any talk of retirement, he said: “People seem to have been asking me about it for the last five years now, I’ll keep contributing as long as they (the club) want me to play.

“As long as my performances don’t dip and I’m still adding value to the side then I’d like to keep on playing.

“On the flip-side of that, as long as Wigan think I’m still offering something to the team and they want me to play then I’ll always want to carry on.

“They’ve (the club) managed me really well in the last few years and the biggest thing has just been avoiding those little injuries that you can pick up, providing I do that then I still think I’m an asset to the side.”

Wigan, led by their 35-year-old captain, turned around a 21-point deficit against Catalans on Saturday and O’Loughlin believes the experience can help the team going forwards.

“To finish the Easter period going over there, you add the travel disruption into that – it was tough. We just cracked on with it, the start we had was a little bit down to that.

“We had some disruption with being delayed, we were on the plane for a lot longer than we wanted to be.

“I thought that getting a win like that, away from home, when things weren’t really going our way is good for the mentality and morale of the side.

“As much as it wasn’t a great performance in that first half we can take a lot out of how we reacted and turned it around.”


Wigan take on fellow Super League big guns on Friday when they face Leeds Rhinos at Emerald Headingley Stadium.

O’Loughlin said: “The atmosphere is always bouncing there and they’re always enjoyable games to play in.

“It’s a tough place to go and we’ve not picked up many results there recently but the boys enjoy the rivalry that we created over the last ten years or so. These games are the ones you love to play in.”

The Wigan skipper also praised another stalwart of the sport as he spoke highly of Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

“They’ve seen some of the senior lads go, the likes of Danny Mcguire, Rob Burrow and Jamie Peacock have all gone but Jonesy is one of those players behind the scenes who is probably driving standards at Leeds in training and he’s still contributing massively on the pitch too.”


http://www.wiganwarriors.com/news/2018- ... GPlejol.99

[NeeNawWarrior22]

Think he proved V Cats he can still add something. We would be silly to expect those performances on a weekly basis but when he plays like that, it wins matches.
Happy for him to keep on playing, loyalty is a true rarity in the modern game. Bravo Lockers