Jarrod Sammut 'would have gone part-time and got a job' had Wigan Warriors not thrown him Super League lifeline

The 32-year-old Australian was preparing to take a job outside rugby and play part-time for a Championship club after rejecting the offer of a fresh contract with newly-promoted London Broncos on the eve of the season.

Sammut had played a key role for the Broncos in 2018 and kicked their points in a 4-2 win over Toronto Wolfpack in the Million Pound Game that earned them a place back in Super League.

But the former Crusaders, Bradford and Wakefield half-back decided it was unfair on his young family to spend another season in the capital and was ready to turn his back on full-time rugby until Wigan stepped in to offer him a two-year deal.

"I was already speaking to a few Championship clubs and, if Wigan hadn't have come in for me, I would probably have signed with one of them," Sammut told PA.

"It probably wasn't the end of the world but I would have had to go get myself a job because the rugby would have been part-time.

"That's something I'm going to get used to eventually but I am quite thankful and very blessed to still be playing Super League and in a full-time environment.

"I love pushing myself and seeing how far I can go with my boundaries and Wigan's a club where boundaries are only set by your mindset.

"It probably took a bit longer than I would have liked to get settled in. I had a severe injury which kept me out for 10 weeks so that hampered me.

"But I'm back into it now and when I'm on the field I don't want to let them down."

Sammut is set to take over at scrum-half from the injured Thomas Leuluai while coach Adrian Lam is contemplating giving a debut to 18-year-old Bulgaria-born Ethan Havard in the absence of prop Joe Bullock.

Havard was born in Sofia, where his mother was a nurse and his Wigan-born father worked in telecommunications, but moved back to England with his family at the age of six months.

He began playing rugby league at six for Wigan St Patricks, where his father Kieron was one of the coaches, and, after graduating to Wigan's academy, was a member of the team that beat Leeds in the Grand Final last September.

Both teams will go into Thursday's game hoping to bounce back from disappointing derby defeats.

Wigan's five-match winning run was ended abruptly by St Helens while Trinity have won just one of their last nine league and cup games and are reeling from a 36-16 home defeat by Castleford last Friday.

Lam said: "They are coming off a derby loss and they'll be fired up but we are coming off a derby loss as well. It's a home game for us and we want to show plenty of energy like we did two weeks ago (against Hull KR)."