Rigby: Played in good faith

• Wigan Warriors Wheelchair’s Adam Rigby spoke to wiganwarriors.com as the Warriors competed in the Wheelchair 4s tournament.
• Rigby: “It’s been a long off season for many of our players so hopefully this serves as a good bit of a warm up ready to get us rolling against Halifax Panthers next week.”
• The tournament served as a warm-up ahead of next week’s Betfred Wheelchair Super League opener. See the full fixtures HERE.

Adam Rigby says Wigan Warriors Wheelchair are ready and raring to start the 2023 Betfred Wheelchair Super League season.

The Warriors Wheelchair side compete in a Wheelchair 4’s competition at UCLan’s Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre on Sunday as Rigby explained: “The format today is very similar to what you do in the running game with the nines. We’re on a little bit of a smaller playing area but there’s only four of us so it’s quite a fast flowing game, a lot of space to move around and a lot of space for players to show a bit of flair.

“It’s been a long off season for many of our players so hopefully this serves as a good bit of a warm up ready to get us rolling against Halifax Panthers next week.”

Reflecting on 2022, as the Warriors competed in the Wheelchair Super League for the first time as well as Rigby winning the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup with England, he said: “Last year was a bit of a mad year – training, the season itself and then finishing off with a World Cup. It was a very intense year but I’ve had chance to have some time in the off season to relax and rest up but back into training now and ready to start the 2023 Betfred Wheelchair Super League Season.”

The Warriors are looking to welcome more faces to their squad as the continue their develpoment in the sport: “On the back of the success for England in the World Cup we’ve had a few trial sessions which has allowed us to bring a few new players in. We’ve had Rob Gregson playing today, Rob has played what will have been his first full game and he’s got straight into the team. We’re also hoping to develop a few more players and get a few more ready to take part in our Super League Team.”

Looking ahead to the Warriors season opened next Sunday against reigning Champions Halifax Panthers, he added: “It’s always an intense game when we come up against Halifax. We’ve been quite evenly matched whenever we’ve played them previously so there’ll be a lot of speed, plenty of collisions but all played in good faith of the sport.”