Wigan Athletic star opens up on hugely 'frustrating' period

The 25-year-old has impressed in the last two matches after recovering from a calf problem.

Francois was hoping for better fortune this term, having missed most of last season with a serious ankle injury.

However, after playing the first five games, the Australian was again forced to return to the treatment room - which he's hoping he won't be seeing again for some time.

"I'm so happy to be back playing, it's what I really enjoy doing," he said. "It's so frustrating when you're unable to play, you're unable to have any kind of impact on the team.

"To be honest, injuries are tougher mentally than they are physically, because you know your body will heal.

"It's more about making sure you're staying motivated every day, doing the right things to get back as soon as possible.

"There's a really good team at Wigan in terms of physios, strength and conditioning, and the coaching staff.

"It's almost a perfect environment to keep you motivated and make sure you're always hungry to come back. I feel like I need to make up for lost time, and I just want to help the team now as much as possible."

It's exactly a year since Francois saw his 2024/25 campaign ended at Barnsley, having been involved in an innocuous looking collision with former Latics forward Stephen Humphrys.

"Last year was a bad one, damaging my ankle at Barnsley, and being out for seven months," he added.

"The funny thing was I was trying to block a shot from Stephen Humphrys, who I know really well from our time at Fulham...we were in the Academy, although he was a bit older.

"He's tried to shoot, I've tried to win the ball, but I've come off worse...he said I shouldn't have tried to block his shot!"

Unsurprisingly, Francois is only interested in looking forward now.

"I don't want to think about the schedule coming up, I just want to focus on playing in the next game, and then the one after that," he said.

"The Christmas period coming up is crazy...it's play, recover, play, recover...and I'm looking forward to it.

"The body feels good at the moment, the last injury was a bit of a tricky one, because of the nature of the tendon, around the calf.

"It was so frustrating when I was close to coming back, and then I'd get knocked back. But that's all in the past now."

The former Fulham man has settled back into the engine room, and impressed in Saturday's draw against table-topping Stevenage.

"I thought we created some very good chances, and unfortunately we weren't able to convert any of them,” he said.

"The good thing is we are directing chances, and we are dominating games against good teams. We just need to be a bit more clinical in the final third.

"We've shown we can go toe to toe with any team...we outwork everybody, and we dominate the ball...it's just that final piece of the jigsaw.

"We know the results will come, we know the quality we have in the squad, and where we're capable of getting to."