Wigan Warriors captain Liam Farrell takes centre stage with team-first mentality - 'Wherever Matty wants me'
Liam Farrell has been rolling back the years in recent weeks, with the Wigan Warriors captain taking centre stage.
The 35-year-old has filled the void in the centres left by Jake Wardle, who will miss around three months of action with a knee injury.
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Farrell has stepped up to the plate over the last fortnight while at left centre, helping Wigan comfortably beat Hull FC and Leigh Leopards.
“Defensively, it’s a little bit different,” Farrell told Wigan Today when asked about how he finds playing centre.
"In the back-row, you get tested quite a bit, but at centre, you have to make some big calls with not very much time, so it is a bit of a different challenge that way.
“But I’ve got a very good winger outside of me and halfback inside of me that are very good defensively, so they’ve been helpful, and wherever I’m put on the field and wherever Matty (Peet) wants me to play, I’ll have a go.”
Wigan produced a ruthless performance to thrash Leigh 54-0 on Thursday, with Matt Peet’s side running in nine tries and conceding zero.
“Very happy,” Farrell reflected. “Having no tries scored against us was very pleasing, obviously a lot of good attack, but at this time of year, we need to be really good defensively, and I think that sets us up for the rest of the year, being good with our D, and I think for large parts we were on in that area.
"I think the way we played last week (against Hull) sort of rolled into this week, and it wasn’t necessarily about them not scoring, we just wanted to make sure we were at our standards, and we didn’t let them drop, even when we started going ahead by quite a lot.
"Tonight (against Leigh), we spoke about it at half-time, Matty was very pleased, but there was also some criticism in there of how we could be better, not just trying to throw the ball around, but doing the all simple things really well and finishing in good positions, and when we did that, the game was very simple and in the end.”
Next up for the Warriors is a trip to the south of France to face Toulouse Olympique on Saturday evening.