Sean Long: Why I rejected Wigan Warriors return

Incoming coach Michael Maguire wanted him on board after he departed a glittering career at St Helens.

But Long says he still held a grudge from the fact Wigan had shown him the door as a youngster in the mid-90s, prompting him to choose Hull FC instead.

“I had two clubs, Hull or go back to Wigan,” he told the Behind the Athlete podcast. “Madge (Maguire) was just taking over, I’d have won the comp' and Orrell – where they trained – was 50 yards from where I lived.

“But I just thought, ‘You fired me off as a kid, now you want me back?’ Nah. So I ended up going to Hull.”

Speaking to Warriors’ Jackson Hastings, Long revealed how he feared he may have to hang up the boots when at his hometown club - and his devastation at being traded to Widnes.

He was a St Judes junior before joining Wigan, where he began making inroads despite his route to the No.6 shirt being blocked by Henry Paul, Nigel Wright and Frano Botica.

“They were three mint stand-offs, and I was behind them,” said Long, who is now on the coaching staff at Harlequins RU.

“I was doing alright at WIgan, I was coming through and then I snapped my cruciate in ‘95, playing for the reserves when I was meant to play first team the week later.

“It obliterated my knee. A guy came in the room and pretty much said, ‘Your career’s over’. I was devastated. Wigan looked after me and once I got back fit, I wasn’t back to the same standard and Wigan probably didn’t think I could get there. It was definitely a confidence thing.

“My dad was coaching at Widnes and Wigan wanted a prop from Widnes, Lee Hanson, so my dad said, ‘We want Sean Long’.

“I was doing weights with Martin Offiah and they came in and said, ‘We want to sell you’. I was devastated.

“My dad told me to use it as a stepping stone – I played nine games in eight weeks, it wasn’t the greatest standard (in the second-tier) – and then within eight weeks I went to St Helens.

“Once Wigan dumped me, that was it. I washed my hands with Wigan. I was happy to go to St Helens. You’ve fired me off, it’s payback time.”

Long, a three-time winner of the Lance Todd Trophy, was a pantomime villain when he played against the Warriors.

“I still live in Wigan and I get, ‘You traitor, you Judas’. Hang on a minute, you sold me!” he smiled.

“It wasn’t my idea, i didn’t want to leave.”

To listen to the podcast, click the link through the embedded Tweet.

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