Dan Sarginson has returned to training with Wigan Warriors, much to the delight of the man himself.
However two people that are more relieved about the 22-year-old’s return to fitness are his mother and sister, who became Sarginson’s personal carers during his injury nightmare.
The centre hasn’t featured for the Warriors since July after suffering a hamstring injury and eventually forced into having surgery that ruled him out for the rest of the season.
As a result, the former Harlequins centre was on crutches for six weeks, in which time mobility and day-to-day activities became impossible tasks.
Thankfully for Sarginson, his family was on hand to help him out and even walked his dog for him during a time that he describes was like ‘being a teenager again’.
“The first six weeks I was on crutches, so I had to have the family up here looking after me,” he revealed to TotalRL.
“My little sister would stay up one week and then my mum the other, they took it in turns. It wasn’t too bad for them and the lads up here helped me out too.
“They were babysitting me a little bit. When I was on crutches I literally couldn’t get up and move anywhere, I was just icing it all day and resting it completely. So they were taking my dog for a walk, they’d be going and doing my shopping because I couldn’t drive and anywhere I needed to be they’d have to pick me up and drop me off. It was just a bit of a nightmare for a few weeks while I was on crutches.
“I think my sister is hoping for a few favours in return, but I’ve already helped her out quite a bit, so I think she was more than happy to help me out.”
Following his return to training, Sarginson is now determined to put his injury anguish behind him after what was a ‘disappointing’ 2015.
“I wasn’t too happy last year,” he said
“I had a four-month injury so I had a slow start and didn’t really come back in the shape I wanted to be in. This year I’ve had a massive off-season and been able to clear my head a bit. I’ve ripped in at the gym and put a bit of weight on, so I’m really optimistic about this season.”
Sarginson revealed that he has put four kilos of muscle on ahead of the 2016 season in an attempt to develop his game.
Super League is currently blessed with a number of physical centres with the role evolving over recent years, and Sarginson believes he will be more adept to the British style of play now he has bulked up.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for quite a while but I haven’t had the opportunity. Normally during pre-season you’re doing a lot of running and the weight falls off pretty quick.
“But I’ve been doing some really good weight sessions and I’m able to carry it.
“It’ll add another aspect to my game. Where before I didn’t have the strength to out-muscle the other centres I might have that this year.
“I base a lot of my games around taking a lot of carries. If carrying this extra weight means I can’t do that then I’ll have to drop the weight, but it shouldn’t be a problem and I should be able to keep my current workload.”
From a personal standpoint, Sarginson has pencilled in Wigan’s round one clash with Catalans as his return date. Whether he features in that game remains unknown at this point, but either way, he believes he is part of a team that has plenty to be positive about going into the new season.
“We’re a bit gutted (about last year).
“You can see it with how hard some of the lads are training. I don’t think we’ve deserved to lose the way we have the last two years.
“This year is massive for us. We have some Wigan-born leaders with us and a lot of passion in the side. There are a lot of young lads coming through like Dom (Manfredi) and George (Williams) that have another year under their belts, so we’re really positive about this year.”
