Warrington Wolves winger Matty Ashton has spoken about the huge blow the side have suffered in the past week, with their captain set to be ruled out long-term.
George Williams could miss anywhere from three months to a year, per Sam Burgess, after the half-back picked up a neck injury in the away defeat to Catalans Dragons.
The issue turned out to be a lot worse than first thought, and Williams will now require surgery for it to heal back to 100%.
Ewan Irwin has stepped up in his place, and put on a brilliant performance last time out as his three asssists helped the side defeat Wigan Warriors 23-6.
Ashton, who has been a teammate of Williams’ at club and country for a number of years, spoke to Sky Sports following the Wolves’ win on Friday night.
He revealed the impact the skipper’s injury has had on the side, and how they all hope he can take to the field with them at least once more before he departs to the NRL.
“It was disappointing for us all,” the Wolves winger said. “We’re all really close to George. He’s our leader and he’s got a big voice around the team.
“It’s really upsetting to see that he’s out for a while, but hopefully he can get back flying fit by the end of the year, hopefully.
Ashton himself has recently undergone a lengthy layoff, having only just returned from an ACL injury.
He has revealed that whilst some dark days will lie ahead for the half-back, the club have got an excellent support network to help players get through those tough times.
He said: “I’d say it’s pretty dark at the start. It’s pretty daunting, especially with it being my first real long-term injury.
“There’s the stuff that I went and missed last year, all the big games going on especially the Challenge Cup final, I had to sit on the sidelines for that.
“We’ve got a really good strength and performance staff with Ade Garner and Nick Murphy and the physios, they really helped me along the way.
“It was bad luck that we had a couple more ACLs in the team last year so we kind of got in a little group and we got ourselves through it.”
Matty Ashton names underrated Warrington Wolves star to step up into captaincy role
With Williams being the club captain, someone else will have to step up into that role in his absence.
The likes of Marc Sneyd have bundles of experience, whilst Luke Yates has been a captain at previous clubs, so he could be another to take the mantle.
Asked who he thought could take that responsibility, Ashton gave out two names, one a lot less obvious than the other.
“We’ve got a pretty strong leadership group to be fair,” the winger said. “We’ve got Ben Currie, who’s been here the longest, he’s got a big voice in changing rooms.
!We’ve got a young leader in Josh Thewlis coming up. For his age, he’s got a massive voice and like you’ve seen with his performance tonight, he’s got a leadership thing about him, so I’m hoping Thewlis will step up as well.”
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