Brad O'Neill hits 100 for Wigan Warriors - 'A proud moment for me and my family'
Brad O’Neill reflected on a special week after making his 100th appearance for his boyhood club Wigan Warriors, saying it was a ‘proud moment’ for him and his family.
The 23-year-old joined Wigan’s 100 club on Thursday night as he helped the Warriors maintain their unbeaten start to the year with a nail-biting 23-22 win over newly-promoted York Knights at the Brick Community Stadium.
"It’s a proud moment for me and my family,” O’Neill reflected. “It has come around very fast with games week in, week out, so it’s a proud moment.
"It was a pretty special week with the club bringing in my family, and they recognise milestones pretty well at Wigan, so I appreciate them bringing them in, and they gave me a gift as well, so it means a lot.”
O’Neill, a product of the club’s famed youth system, made his first-team debut under then-coach Adrian Lam back in 2021 – a 14-6 defeat away to Wakefield Trinity.
"We played Wakefield away under Lammy,” O’Neill recalled. “I think we ended up getting beat, but I can’t remember the score.
"I was on loan at Widnes just before it. I spent a couple of months there, and I got a phone call to come back from my loan at Widnes, saying that I might get a chance of making my debut. So I just went through the week, and I ended up getting it away at Wakefield.
"I took a lot of good things away from that loan with Widnes. I played there with the likes of Matty Smith, who was still playing at that time, and Jack Owens, who is still there now, Danny Craven – some good players, I feel like it brought me on a lot, and it helped me get used to the physical side of the game."
Still only 23 years of age, O’Neill has already hit 100 Wigan games, represented England and won every trophy in the domestic game with Matt Peet’s side – but he is hungry to achieve more.
"I just want to keep on building week to week,” said O’Neill. “I feel like coming off the back of last year, the team have set out some goals we want to achieve, so I feel like it’s just about building on them now.”