Sean O’Loughlin is no stranger to creating history but for the Wigan captain there is extra significance in ensuring his body is ready and willing to cope with the demands of another bruising Easter period, beginning with the traditional Good Friday derby against St Helens.
O’Loughlinhas been at the heart of some of the biggest Wigan-Saints games with his hometown club: be they Grand Finals, Challenge Cup finals or title deciders. But if there was any doubting O’Loughlin’s place among Wigan’s greats, the record he will extend on Good Friday underlines his importance to the Warriors.
“You probably can’t sit back and take that in properly while you’re still playing, can you?” O’Loughlin replies when reminded that, should he be fit to face Saints, he will extend his record as Wigan player in most derbies to 47, having overtaken the club’s all-time leading appearance-maker, Jim Sullivan, this season.
“I asked the media guys at the club not to make too much of it initially,” O’Loughlin says. “It would be a big deal and I would love to have that record but I’ve got to make sure I am out there for the right reasons and that’s to help the team win, not because of a milestone. I’ve got to be fit to play.
“There’s no shying away from the fact Easter is tough on the body. You play Friday and then Monday and you’ve got to accept you’re playing fatigued. But it can be tough and it definitely gets harder the older you get.”
Now 36 and in his 18th season with Wigan, will this year be the final time he puts his body through the pain barrier over Easter? “Every year we have talks about how I’m feeling and performing,” says O’Loughlin, who signed a one-year extension last season. “It’s still really early to call but there’s so much to look forward to. We play Catalans in Barcelona next month, there’s Magic Weekend then hopefully a Great Britain tour this autumn. I’m still as motivated as ever.”
The 36-year-old has been battling a calf problem that ruled him out of Friday’s 30-20 loss to Wakefield but he is confident he will be fit to lead Wigan through an Easter period that could transform the Warriors’ faltering defence of the Super League title. “If you count the game before Easter, you play four times in two weeks,” he rightly points out.
Wigan have won three of their first 10 league games and with doubts persisting over Shaun Edwards’s arrival as head coach at the club next year these are uncertain times for a club who are used to winning, not labouring at the wrong end of the table.
“We’ve not had the best start but it can be right put with a good run of form over Easter,” O’Loughlin says.
