Manfredi still driven to fight for the shirt
GRAND FINAL hero Dom Manfredi has gone from the greatest moment of his career to fighting for his place in Wigan’s team – but would not have it any other way.
The winger became the story of October’s Old Trafford triumph against Warrington when he scored two tries in just his fifth game back from two years out.
Back-to-back cruciate ligament injuries left the 25-year-old fearing he might never play again and he even started to learn how to drive HGVs as a precaution in case he needed a new occupation.
But Manfredi helped give coach Shaun Wane and players Sam Tomkins, John Bateman and Ryan Sutton the perfect end to their Warriors careers, with a man-of-the-match display that included playing on with a nasty cut around his eye.
That will not be enough to assure him of a place in Wigan’s team this season though. Manfredi is one of four top-line wingers in new coach
Adrian Lam’s squad, with
Joe Burgess,
Tom Davies and Liam
Marshall jostling for the two starting spots. England international Burgess is out until the start of April with a knee injury but Manfredi knows he has a battle on his hands for his shirt.
“Everyone’s going to be on their toes and have to perform,” he said. “If you don’t, there’s somebody there ready to take your spot. I love the competition and it will keep me hungry. We all get on and we never really mention it – it might start when the games start.
“At some point there will be injuries and it can be down to how you deal with that.”
Manfredi still remembers his own injury hell despite the fairy-tale finish that followed.
“That will always be on my mind, but that’s a good thing because it’ll keep me hungry and will make me not want to end up in that position again,” he said.
“I couldn’t have written what happened after that – nothing could have gone any better for me. I can’t really believe what happened. But I want it to happen all over again now.”
Injuries will always be on my mind