Wigan Warriors hooker Michael McIlorum returns from his two-month injury lay-off against Widnes tonight, hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened the last time he played against the Vikings.
Ironically, Widnes were the team that McIlorum last pulled a jersey on to play against, suffering a broken arm in that game and missing a hefty chunk of the season. And he revealed to the Wigan Evening Post that he played through that game with a broken arm – after thinking he had initially suffered only a dead arm!
“It wasn’t too painful when I did it, I just thought it was a dead arm,” McIlorum said.
“I was getting subbed off shortly afterwards and I thought it was alright. The next day, our physio sent me for a scan, just in case.
“I came back to the club and they said, ‘It was a good job because it was broken’.”
McIlorum admits the Warriors have to win their three remaining games to ensure they give themselves the best chance of finishing top – and the hooker admitted St Helens’ tricky run-in could leave the door ajar in the coming weeks.
“For us to win the Shield – which has been one of our goals this year – we need to win our last three games and hope other games go our way,” said McIlorum.
“Saints have a tough run in so we hope they drop a few points and we can take six points from six.”
