FRIENDLY FIRE
Joker Charnley fears he’ll be a target for old pal McIlorum
JOSH CHARNLEY and Micky McIlorum know all about what it takes to lift the Challenge Cup – but only one can go home from Wembley happy today.
The close friends line up on opposite sides after being Wigan team-mates when they beat Leeds in 2011 and Hull FC in 2013. Both have become influential figures at their new clubs – Warrington winger Charnley after returning to Super League from Sale rugby union, and hooker McIlorum in new surroundings at Catalans.
And Charnley said: “He’s someone you don’t want to play against, you want him on your team!
“He’s a good lad on and off the field and it’s been good to see how well he’s been playing over there.
“We tend to stay away from each other before a match but he might drop me a text telling me he’s going to headhunt me or something!
“When you run into him you know about it because he can really whack people.”
McIlorum has been planning a pre-match text to add spice to a fascinating clash that could see his Dragons side make history as the first non-English team to lift the famous trophy. He said: “We’re good friends and I want Josh to do well, just not this weekend.
“I might text him and wind him up a little bit, see if he’s going to run at me. It’s been nice to see him back and doing what he does best, scoring tries.”
While Charnley has settled straight into his new surroundings at the Wolves, scoring more Challenge Cup tries than any other player this year, it took McIlorum longer to adapt to life in France.
He explained: “The first couple of months I was on my own, living in temporary accommodation without any TV or Wi-Fi.
“I was thinking about if I’d made the right decision, especially because I’d come from a winning mentality at Wigan and we were losing a lot of games.
“But thankfully we turned the corner and started to find a bit of form, and I’m glad I stuck with it.”