Ben Currie admits he has nine games to convince Wayne Bennett he can play a part for England at the World Cup after ending his 10-month injury nightmare at the weekend.
Currie marked his return to action following a serious knee injury by scoring the winning try in the Wolves’ 16-10 win at Wigan on Thursday night.
And he says that he still has plenty to play for this season – including a spot in the World Cup with the national side. Currie has remained in the Elite Performance Squad throughout his recuperation but admits the onus is on him to show Bennett what he can do.
He admitted: “I’ve got nine games to try and impress. They’ve kept me in the elite squad with my injury but I know I’ve got to get back to performing like what I was last year to have any chance of being selected.
“I’ve not spoke to Wayne but we’ve had the regular England meetings with Denis Betts and Baloo (Paul Anderson) and we’ve had chats. We’ve another one on Monday so it’ll be interesting to talk then now that I’m back playing.”
Currie also revealed all about the painstaking process he went through over the last year to return to full fitness: admitting it had been a “rollercoaster”.
He said: “It’s frustrating and hard to watch the boys suffer. In 2015 we had a poor year and I know how that can feel – this year has been a bit worse I guess so it’s good to get out there and start things off with a win.
“It’s been a rollercoaster. There’s been plenty of ups and downs; seeing people come into the rehab group and leave before me was hard. The first part of the injury wasn’t too bad because I thought I could get something out of it but it’s all in the past now and it’ll only make me stronger.
“It’s been a long ten months. I’ve gone through all different scenarios in my head about how it would go when I found out I was playing but that was a bit of a dream come true.”
However, Currie’s match-winning try could not prevent Warrington’s place in the Qualifiers being rubber-stamped over the weekend.
Huddersfield’s win against Leigh ensured the Wolves would be competing in the so-called ‘middle eight’ – but Currie wants the Wolves to react in the way 2015 champions Leeds did when they found themselves in a similar predicament.
He said: “We don’t belong in the bottom four, you could see that from this performance.
“Leeds last year struggled, but once they got to the Qualifiers and got their players back they showed how good they were. Hopefully we can do that too.”
