End of Season Awards

• Jackson Hastings named Player of the Year.
• Liam Farrell named Players’ Player of the Year.
• Kai Pearce-Paul and Joe Shorrocks awarded Joint Young Player of the Year.

In a change to previous years, Wigan Warriors held an End of Season Sponsor Event on Monday evening where players met up with their sponsors and four Warriors scooped awards for their contributions in 2021.

Player of the Year – Jackson Hastings.

As voted for by the Warriors fans, the departing Jackson Hastings was crowned Player of the Year for 2021.

Hastings was a stand-out player again in his second season in Cherry and White, making 25 appearances with four tries, one goal and two drop goals, but his most important asset coming in the form of his 21 try assists.

Picking up the award, Hastings said: “There’s probably a few boys in this room that have won this multiple times and to have my name alongside them in Wigan history is something I will be proud of forever.

“To the boys, I’ll be sad to leave you behind, I had a great two years. I’m going to miss this place, it’s in great hands with the people here and I wish everyone the best and all the success.”

Players’ Player of the Year – Liam Farrell.

Admired by his fellow teammates, Liam Farrell secured the Player’s Player of the Year award in another fantastic year for the 31-year-old.

In a season which saw him feature at centre as well as second row, Farrell went over for nine tries and notched five assists and was recently named in the Super League Dream Team.

Farrell said: “It’s a little bit of a shock if I’m honest, I didn’t expect it. I’ve never received this award so I’m really pleased and very humbled by it. To play with these lads all year and get their vote for Players’ Player, I’m really honoured.”

Young Player of the Year – Kai Pearce-Paul and Joe Shorrocks.

Unable to split the two, Young Player of the Year was awarded to both Kai Pearce-Paul and Joe Shorrocks.

2021 was a breakout year for the pair, with 20-year-old Pearce-Paul making 19 appearances for the Warriors and earning huge respect from the Warriors fans for his efforts.

21-year-old Shorrocks was an ever present for Wigan in 2021, with some of his time spent filling in as hooker in the absence of Sam Powell, showing his versatility as a player. Shorrocks also took the Betfred Super League Top Tackler award with 833 tackles in the campaign.

Shorrocks said: “I just wanted to see if I could play as many games as I could, I certainly didn’t think it would be all of them so I’m really pleased.”

Pearce-Paul added: “I definitely wasn’t expecting to play as much as I did, I set a target at the start of the season of what I’d like to play and due to the circumstances, with a few injuries and other things I got a shot.

“I guess each game I felt like I built on my performance and gave as much as I could so I thought it was a good season for me.”

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