England’s reigning player of the year, Tommy Freeman, has revealed he sees his future at outside-centre and intends to continue his transformation into midfield in the coming season.
A winger by trade, Freeman enjoyed a stunning 2024-25 campaign, racking up 23 tries for Northampton, England and the British & Irish Lions. Freeman scored a memorable hat-trick in the Champions Cup semi-final win over Leinster, having become the first England men’s player to score in every round of the Six Nations.
He went on to start all three Lions Tests in the series victory over Australia and finished his fine campaign with 34 appearances, exceeding the mandated game limit in the process.
All but two of those came on the wing with Freeman given a taste of life in the No 13 jersey in Northampton’s victory over Sale in October while, significantly, his last England appearance, in the thumping win over Wales in Cardiff, came in midfield.
Indeed, despite Freeman’s strike-rate from the wing, the England head coach, Steve Borthwick, has been plotting Freeman’s transition to centre for some time. Borthwick has Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tom Roebuck, Elliot Daly, Ollie Sleightholme, Cadan Murley, Will Muir and Henry Arundell as his wing options but is less well stocked at centre and, after the summer series win in Argentina, extolled the virtues of versatility among his squad.
Freeman is among the 25 players on an enhanced England contract – which gives Borthwick greater access to the core members of his squad – and the 24-year-old revealed Northampton, who boast Sleightholme, George Hendy and James Ramm among their wing options, are on board with his impending move.
“There’s a bit more of a focus on 13 [this season],” said Freeman. “It’s definitely an option, as it was last year, but the onus is on me to get some more training minutes in there. If I can do that and be trusted in the midfield then I’ll go for it.
“England and Saints are pretty aligned and they’ll give each other lots of feedback. Saints have me signed as a wing and if they want me to play there then I’ll play there – it’s as simple as that. It’s injury-dependent, too; last year I think they probably would have liked to have had me in the middle a bit more but because of injuries I was on the wing.
“For now, I’m a wing and a 13 but then as we get on [I want to be a] 13 who can go on the wing. I think [I want to be a 13]. As you get a bit older and your legs get a bit slower so I’ll probably have to come in one. Having different strings to your bow does help but I just want to be on the pitch, representing the country, as much as possible.”
Freeman’s gruelling season ended prematurely in Sydney – he suffered a broken nose in the Lions’ third-Test defeat by Australia – and spent the summer recharging the batteries with holidays in Florida and Mallorca. In accordance with player welfare guidelines, Freeman will not be available for Northampton until the third round of the season while the Saints director of rugby, Phil Dowson, has confirmed he will be given additional rest during the 2025-26 campaign and has urged England to do the same.
Freeman, who made 32 appearances in 2023-24, added: “This year, having had two big seasons, it has been a wake-up call for me in that I’ve got to look after my body a lot better than when you’re young and you can rock up and run into it. It’s more on how diligent I can be. It’s all about taking care of your body.
“It’s a mixture of everything, from training time to games, certain England games, there’s good player welfare and they look after us pretty well. You’re not going to step away from semi-finals, finals and big games you want to be a part of so what can you do mid-season to make sure you’re in prime position to where you need to be?
“I’m always hungry for what’s next. The Lions was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done but there’s a World Cup around the corner that I want to be a part of. I want to win leagues and Champions Cups with Saints. You’re always hungry for the next thing.”
