Thornley: Carry on going

• Iain Thornley spoke to Wigan TV this week ahead of the Warriors game against Huddersfield Giants.
• Thornley: “I played a lot of my career at centre so that is probably somewhere I do prefer playing but I’ve got to cover different positions and that’s what we like in our team, how versatile players can be.”
• Watch the full interview on Wigan TV HERE.

Iain Thornley said his main focus is to carry on going after overcoming two injuries early in the season to settle his spot at Centre for Wigan.

“It wasn’t going my way at the beginning of the year,” he said, “I had that syndesmosis injury that put me out for 8 weeks and then literally a week later I ended up with a ligament injury in my shoulder that set me back for another two weeks. I thought someone really doesn’t want me to play Rugby here but the Club have been brilliant, really looked after me and got me better and I’m thankful to be back on the pitch. I just want to put my best foot forward now and do as best as I can on the field to repay that.”

Now back on the pitch, Thornley has had a string of games under his belt: “Everything has gone good so far, ticked a few games off now since having that injury. It’s just unfortunate and how things go sometimes, it’s not the start of the season that I wanted but I’m just thankful that I’ve got through a few games now, a big game at the weekend and everything has held up alright, it’s just about carrying on going now.”

Love it, @IainThornley1! 👊#WWRL #ChallengeCup pic.twitter.com/BOjl2oxbEH

— Wigan Warriors 🍒⚪️ (@WiganWarriorsRL) May 7, 2022

The Warriors head on the road to face Huddersfield Giants on Thursday evening, with a selection of youth named in the 21-player squad. Speaking on the changes, Thornley said: “Matty always says that he wouldn’t put anyone out there that he doesn’t feel can do the job so it’s good, there’s some young lads getting an opportunity to get a couple of games under their belts, potentials for debuts so it’s great to see and it’s great for the Club. Those young lads getting the experience, or making their debut and getting a taste of Super League.

“There’s still a a lot of senior boys who have played a lot of games around them, we’ve had some good training sessions this week and the younger lads didn’t look out of place and that is what Matty and the Coaching staff want. No matter who comes in, in what position, they know their roles from pre-season. There might be some nerves, so we can give them that bit of encouragement but once that game kicks off I think they’ll be fine.”

The Giants will also be Wigan’s opponents in the Challenge Cup Final in two weeks’ time. Quizzed on whether Wigan can take anything away from Huddersfield’s game pay this week, the centre added: “There’s a few changes of personnel for both teams but a lot of the structures and the plays that you’ll see on Thursday will probably give you a jist of what each others teams do and that’ll probably not be far off what to expect in the final.”

Read our full match preview ahead of Thursday’s game against Huddersfield Giants, which includes all the vital stats, pre-match build up and ticket information HERE.