FORMER St Helens stalwart Jon Wilkin has shared his “biggest regret” in rugby league.
In the build-up to last Friday night’s Super League fixture between Warrington Wolves and Leeds Rhinos – the 5000th game in the summer era – both Wilkin and fellow Sky Sports pundit Jodie Cunningham were asked about their best memories.
In 2007, Wilkin was part of Daniel Anderson’s St Helens that had romped to the League Leaders’ Shield and made the Super League Grand Final where they would face Leeds Rhinos – the team they had just beaten in the qualifying semi-final.
Wilkin remembered the semi-final, but the actions after the fixture will go down as his “biggest regret” in rugby league.
He said: “It’s game 2,175 and it’s a play-off semi-final. It was us against Leeds Rhinos, the golden era was just getting going. We ended up winning this game.
“The story wasn’t this night, it was after this.
“We had a week off and Daniel Anderson has decided to take us to Madrid on a spa weekend camp.
“We got to the hotel, the pool was closed, the gym was closed and it ended up being a 3-day drink.
“We came back and we got pumped in the Grand Final. That period after that game is one of my biggest regrets.
“It’s a great memory but also full of very sad memories and four subsequent years after that were even sadder.”
In fact, Saints went down 33-6 to the Rhinos in that year’s showpiece event at Old Trafford, before losing the subsequent four Grand Finals.