Jai Field finding his feet again as Wigan Warriors star opens up on appendicitis setback
Wigan Warriors fullback Jai Field admits he is finding his feet regarding full match sharpness after undergoing surgery to remove his appendix two months ago.
The Australian speedster has now played five matches since returning from a month on the sidelines after being diagnosed with appendicitis at the start of March.
Field revealed the issue came completely out of the blue shortly after Wigan’s win over Leigh Leopards earlier in the season.
“It obviously wasn’t ideal to get appendicitis – I don’t think anyone saw that coming,” he said.
“It’s been good to get back out there and get a few games under my belt.
“It sort of slows your progress down. I started the year alright with my body feeling good and whatnot, so you miss a few weeks, and I couldn’t really do a lot in that time while it was recovering.
“I’m finding my legs a little bit in getting back out there, I’m a few games back in now and trying to find a bit of form.”
Field explained how the pain first started before eventually leading to surgery the following day.
“We played Leigh on the Thursday night, and I came out of the game fine,” he added.
“Then it was on the Sunday afternoon, at three or four o’clock in the afternoon, I felt I was getting a bit of food poisoning. That’s what it felt like, but it turned out that it wasn’t that.
“I sat up all night in pain and rang our club doctor at 1am, saying: ‘What shall I do? I’m no good here.’ She said just to go back to bed and check how I was in the morning, and that’s when I went to the hospital.
“They told me I had appendicitis, and I had them taken out the next day.”
The 28-year-old admitted the recovery period proved frustrating, given he was unable to do much physical activity while waiting for the scars to heal.
“It wasn’t even sport-related, it was just a freak thing, I guess,” Field said.
“There is no real cause for it – it just comes on, so you’re just sitting around afterwards trying to let the scars heal.
“You’re not running or anything, that’s what I struggle with. In the past, I’ve had injuries with hamstrings and stuff, but with appendicitis, I feel like I wanted to do stuff and I just couldn’t.”
Field says he is now starting to feel more like himself physically after several games back in action.
“The first couple of weeks I was still a little bit tender, especially one of the cuts I had near my belly,” he said.
“It was a bit tender there still, but you can’t really replicate match fitness. You are trying to feel your legs and your lungs again, but I definitely feel a lot better now.”
The Warriors fullback also praised academy product Noah Hodkinson, who stepped in during his absence and made his first-team debut.
“I thought he did really well,” Field said.
“He had a great pre-season, put on a little bit more size to him from the previous year, and I think we sometimes forget just how young some of those young boys are coming up who have played this year for us.
“Any minutes for those guys is great exposure for them. In rugby league, you only get better by playing and getting minutes out there, so I was really pleased with how he went, and I’m sure his family are stoked for him as well.”