Wigan Warriors V Leeds Rhinos: MND charity challenge to take place ahead of Friday's game the DW Stadium

Royce Banks, who runs Royce’s Health and Fitness centre in Ince, will slam a 20kg ball into the floor 2000 times for around two hours which is approximately 17 every minute.

He has chosen to do it for this week’s game against Leeds as a tribute to Rhinos legend Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease back in 2019.

The challenge, which will take place in the fan zone at Robin Park Arena ahead of kick off, is also taking place in memory of Wigan-born Mike Gregory, who coached the Warriors between 2003 and 2004, and Paul Darbyshire, who was involved with Warrington Wolves for 18 years.

On the challenge, Banks said: "I’ve done it before in the yard at the gym to raise money for MND, but I wanted to do it one more time on a bigger stage.

“It’s a big thing in rugby league with Rob (Burrow) having it.

"I also want to do it in memory of Mike Gregory and Paul Darbyshire.

"I’m trying to raise as much money. There’s no cure yet, but the only way we’ll get that is by researching, and they need the funds.

"Hopefully if we can get the media coverage we can get a lot of donations.

"It’ll be 1000 reps an hour, so it will take some doing.

“I’ve done the training now- I know what I’m capable of doing.

"The main thing will be keeping my hands cool, so we’ll have three fans to keep them dry.”

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