Wigan Warriors coach Shaun Wane has refused to completely rule captain Sean O’Loughlin out of the running for this weekend’s Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford.
Wigan announced last week that O’Loughlin suffered a calf injury which was “highly likely” to prevent him from playing again this season.
However, Wane admitted to TotalRL at Monday’s press conference that the Wigan skipper could yet feature – although says he will make a decision early in the week on his chances – which were being described as “remote”.
“Lockers has got a remote chance,” Wane said.
“However, it’s a very remote one. I’m not going to leave it until the last minute.”
Even if he does not make the team for the game, Wane confirmed that the 33-year-old will be involved in the build-up to the match.
“I’ve got Lockers and Micky (McIlorum) speaking to the players this week, Joel Tomkins will do the same and even though he’s a kid, Dom Manfredi will be in speaking as well.
“They’re all getting involved with the players, especially the younger ones, and giving them some feedback about what to expect, and that will be crucial.
“I’ll speak about the last two years too; there’s only one way to come out of there and that’s with the trophy on your coach. I just want the best team to win, there’s no other reason why anyone needs to get involved.”
And Wane repeated his stance from last week’s Dream Team launch: victory on Saturday would be his biggest achievement as a coach.
“If we were to get a win with this group of players it would be my best achievement, as I said before. It would eclipse the double, it would be unbelievable,” he said.
