Wigan Warriors stars help spread community spirit

They repeated last year's npower-supported initiative which saw the players, coaches and support staff volunteer their time to lend a helping hand.

New coach Adrian Lam helped decorate a women's refuge - which was donated new beds by sponsors Sealy - and others got involved at junior clubs, a hospital and a care home. They even cleaned cars of staff at Wigan fire and ambulance HQ.

Forward Liam Farrell said: “It’s not much of our time, it’s one day a year and its not a chore for us players to help.

"We get a lot of satisfaction in helping out on the Community Blitz, we’re very lucky people getting to do what we do for a job, which is something that we enjoy so for us to give up just one day a year isn’t asking too much of us. It’s nice to help out, show our faces and you could tell by some of the smiles on peoples faces that they appreciated it.”

They started work after training and went until 3am this morning, completing 14 separate projects.

Willie Isa said: “It’s important for the us as a club, and for us as players to give something back.

"Some of our younger players are new to these kind of events and I also think it’s an important lesson for them as individuals to see what our club is about, and that is - we make sure that we look after our own community. It’s also a good opportunity for us all to bond whether that be when we’re painting, washing vehicles or visiting hospitals, we’re there to help out whoever may need help at this time of the year and I think that’s also important that we recognise that. "

In addition to funding this year’s fleet of vans, npower also provided a support squad of 20 staff who volunteered to drive the Wigan teams to their chosen destination and to assist them on each project.