Wigan’s Lewis Tierney has played down comparisons with his father, Jason Robinson, as he prepares to make history in next Saturday’s Super League Grand Final.
When Tierney features against Warrington they will become the first father-son duo to have played in Grand Finals. Robinson, the former Wigan and Great Britain winger, scored the decisive try in the inaugural Grand Final against Leeds in 1998.
The 21-year-old says he is focused on crafting his own path in the sport. “I’m my own person, my own player and I just do my own thing,” he says. “Comparisons? I am not really bothered. I wouldn’t say I’m following in his footsteps; I’ve got my own goals and my own ambitions in life, and I am just concentrating on that at the minute.”
Tierney is enjoying a breakthrough year at Wigan. He has made 18 Super League appearances and has impressed after the season-ending injury to Dom Manfredi, which afforded the winger his chance at an extended run in Shaun Wane’s side.
He scored twice during their play-off semi-final victory against Hull on Friday and says that playing at Old Trafford is beyond the expectations he had for himself at the start of the season. “I was trying to learn different roles, but this spell has been a real learning curve with the amount of time I’ve played,” he says. “At the beginning of the year I was just thinking about getting games – and now I’m going to a Grand Final. It’s incredible.”
Tierney says he will be calling on the experience of his team-mates – some of whom are playing in the Grand Final for the fourth consecutive year – to help him. “There’s a few lads who have gone there a few times and won it,” he says. “I think they will give lads like me and Oliver Gildart a bit of advice: but I can’t wait to get out there.
“I’ve been a couple of times in the past, and been in the squad the last three years, but this will be something else. I’m looking forward to it.”
