ZACH ECKERSLEY will return to Wigan from World Cup duty with England all the better for his up-and-down tournament experience, according to former Great Britain star Garry Schofield.
Like the Warriors’ season – Matt Peet’s men won the Challenge Cup, then the League Leaders’ Shield, before their Super League title hopes were crushed by visitors Wakefield in the play-off semi-finals – there have been highs and lows for Eckersley Down Under.
The 22-year-old outside back, who notched 36 tries in 32 Wigan outings this year and made the Super League Dream Team, enjoyed another milestone moment as he was handed a first taste of England action as a winger in their group opener against Tonga in Perth.
But it was a baptism of fire, for after an early ball-drop, Eckersley was put under real pressure by former St Helens coach Kristian Woolf’s side, who went on to win 30-12.
He still earned praise from England coach Brian McDermott, who said: “When he dropped that first ball, I felt for him.
“International careers have ended sometimes because one guy drops a ball and never recovers from it. They certainly smelt blood in the water and kept kicking to him.
“I was anxious about how he’d handle the next 15 or 20 minutes, but credit to him, he held his nerve.
“I thought he was enormous after that. He took those high balls, he was player one or player two for carries and he never took a backwards step.”
Eckersley nevertheless lost out to Warrington’s Matty Ashton in selection for the follow-up meetings with France in Perth and Papua New Guinea in Wollongong.
However Schofield, who has reprised his League Express column for the duration of the World Cup, says Eckersley’s stock has risen.
And he reckons NRL clubs will have taken very close note of a player who in only his fifth Wigan appearance, contributed a try from centre to the 18-8 2024 Challenge Cup final win over Warrington and who is contracted to the club until 2028.
“Wigan fans won’t thank me for saying it, but I could see Zach heading to Australia and doing really well over there,” said the man who won the first of his joint-record 46 Great Britain caps as an 18-year-old centre in 1984 and went on to feature in two World Cups.
“That would improve him as a player and benefit England, because he would be operating in a more intense competition featuring better players.
“It was an eventful debut against Tonga, but it’s all part of the learning process, and you have to expect those ups and downs.
“Everyone remembers him scoring that Challenge Cup final try at Wembley when he was 20, and it took him a little while to establish himself as a regular.
“Then you find that other teams and players get wise to you and you then have to find a way of stepping up yourself and finding that vital consistency, trying to hit those eight-out-of-ten or above performances as often as possible.
“I think Zach has been getting near that for Wigan this year, and it’s going to be really interesting seeing how he goes next time.”
