Wigan Warriors: Sam Powell feeling stronger as he hopes to make his return from injury against Hull FC

The hooker has spent the last couple of months on the sidelines recovering from an operation on his shoulder.

A couple of weeks ago, he made his return to action in a reserves game against Hull KR at Robin Park Arena, and has now set his sights on being back in Matty Peet’s matchday 17 for the fixture against the Black and Whites at the DW Stadium on Friday night (K.O. 8pm).

“I’m feeling good,” Powell said.

“It’s been a long eight weeks, but the rehab has gone well and it’s definitely getting stronger.

“Ideally it was something I would’ve liked to have done at the end of the season, but with the way that it was feeling- I just couldn’t wait.

“I got my range back pretty quickly, it’s just about building my strength up now. I’m getting there but it takes time.

“I’ve been back in full training for a couple of weeks, so it was good to get a run out there, I’ve just been waiting on the call from Matty (Peet) to put me back in.

“It was good to play for the reserves, just to test it out. I was just relieved to be back, and it was about enjoying myself.

“I’ve coached a lot of the lads who were playing- we’ve got a lot of talent there.

“I was pleased to get through the 60 minutes without too much soreness.

“It’s an exciting time of the year now. We’ve got to build as a team and start playing our best rugby.

“Brad (O’Neill) has done a great job playing at nine, it’s going to be tough to get back in but I’m going to bring my all.

“We need to put our best foot forward- not just in the games, but in every training session.

“It’s important we get the DW rocking.

“We’ve got some big, important games coming up, so we all need to be playing well.

“Hopefully I can get in the team this week. If I get the chance I will give my all.”

The Warriors squad headed up to the Lake District last week for some time away from Robin Park Arena.

“The idea was to freshen us up,” Powell added.

“We had some fun up there, we got on the paddleboards.

“It was probably serious for 20 minutes before Sean O’Loughlin started to tip people off- he’s a massive kid.

“I was able to stand up for a little bit but was a bit anxious about going in the water. It was a bit choppy.

“It was loads of fun, and great spending time together.”