Sean O'Loughlin recalls nervy start to career ahead of Grand Final swansong
Lockers will retire at the end of this season after 19 years at the club
Last updated 25th Nov 2020
Wigan captain Sean O'Loughlin has recalled feeling out of his depth at the very start of his career as he prepares to bring down the curtain on it.
The former England skipper, who turned 38 on Tuesday, will make his 459th and final appearance for his home-town club in Friday's Grand Final against St Helens at the KCOM Stadium.
O'Loughlin hopes to bow out on a high with a fifth Super League ring from his eighth Grand Final appearance but it was an inauspicious beginning as he made his debut as a raw and nervous teenager as a substitute in a 20-18 home defeat by Hull.
He said:
"I don't remember the game too much, I just remember feeling I was out of my depth.
"The standard of the game was way bigger than I was used to.
"I always remember when you step up from schoolboy to academy and then academy to A team, the biggest jump of all is from the A team to first team and I just remember my lungs feeling like they were coming out of my chest.
"It almost felt like I was a kid playing against a bunch of dads. It was a shock to the system but, once you get a couple of games under your belt, you kind of come into your own and start to enjoy it.''
Wigan head coach Adrian Lam played in that match against Hull in 2002 and had no doubt O'Loughlin would be able to match the achievement of his brother-in-law Andy Farrell in reaching the top of the game.
Lam said:
"From those early days he was always going to be someone special.
"As he matured and took on the captaincy for the last 11 years, he led the club to probably its most successful time in Super League.''
O'Loughlin will be playing only his eighth game of the season on Friday after a Covid and injury-disrupted year but believes he has earned his place in the side on merit.