Zach Eckersley enjoying his best season yet at Wigan Warriors - 'I'm loving it'

Wigan Warriors winger Zach Eckersley says he is loving every minute of this season and believes centre partner Adam Keighran is making life easier for him as his remarkable try-scoring form continues.

The 22-year-old winger took his tally to 28 tries in 23 appearances across all competitions after scoring a hat-trick in Friday night’s 24-10 win over Huddersfield Giants.

Eckersley has formed a strong partnership with Keighran on Wigan’s right edge this season, with the Australian centre producing another influential display at the Accu Stadium.

“AK is killing it, and he makes my job easier,” Eckersley told Wigan Today.

“When he’s carrying out of the backfield, if I’m before him or after him, it’s the same with (Jake) Wardle, Marshy (Liam Marshall), Noah (Hodkinson) and the young lads who have played this year. When we’re carrying, we’re getting on the back of each other, which makes my job easier.

“I’m loving it, I’ve enjoyed every game so far, and hopefully I can keep enjoying the rest of the year.”

Despite securing another important victory, Eckersley admitted Wigan were not at their fluent best against the Giants.

“There are parts we’ll be disappointed with, but I think the positive is that we got the two points,” he said.

“It’s two points on the table, so we’re happy to go home with the two points, but we’ll be disappointed with parts of the game, but overall, just happy to get the win.”

The Oldham native was quick to deflect praise for his impressive try-scoring record!

“I can’t really take much credit for it,” he smiled. “It’s all the people inside of me... I had a few good passes which found me on the edge, and I just had to put the ball down over the line.”

Eckersley also felt Wigan’s own mistakes contributed to the stop-start nature of the contest, something which they will want to learn from.

“I don’t think we helped ourselves,” he said. “We obviously had quite a few errors, gave away a few penalties and didn’t let the game flow.

“Obviously, we want to be in the game with the ball in play a lot of the time, so when it’s not like that, it makes it more difficult. We’re happy with the win, but there are parts we’ll want to improve.”

The victory lifted Wigan back into second place in the Super League table, but Eckersley insists there is little focus on the standings with eight rounds still to play.

“No, we just take each game as it comes and try to play each game as it comes, and try to keep improving each week,” he said.

“We just try to focus on ourselves, play our best rugby, and hopefully that leads to the two points, and hopefully that (table) takes care of itself at the end of the year.”

Attention now turns to Friday night’s derby clash with St Helens at the Brick Community Stadium.

“It’s a massive game,” Eckersley said. “Obviously, every derby game is massive, and it’s our home game, so it’s one everyone will be looking forward to, and hopefully, there’ll be a big crowd on, so we’re all looking forward to it.”