Just 12 hours before he won Man of the Match for his incredible efforts against Warrington Wolves, Wigan Warriors youngster Josh Cartwright still had no idea that he would be playing.
The full-back was named as the Man of the Match after a youthful Wigan beat Warrington 30-18 with Cartwright scoring the Warriors’ first whilst also making a late try-saving tackle on Ewan Irwin.
He’d run for almost 150 metres in his impressive performance but he hadn’t expected to be playing, telling Sky Sports post-match when and how he got the call-up.
“I was eating breakfast, actually. I was talking to my dad,” the youngster said.
“I had heard in training that there was something up with Jai and he actually went, ‘I0t looks like you’re not playing anyway’ and as soon as we said that, Matty rang the phone.
“He just said, ‘Hi mate, you’re not going to be playing tonight’ and I didn’t really know what to say. When your head coach rings you, you try and figure out what you’ve done wrong but I was buzzing to find out.
“It’s different to how I normally prep for a game but there’s always a next man up mentality when you’re here.”
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Wigan Warriors youngsters ‘all best mates’
That next man up mentality proved strong throughout the Wigan squad with Cartwright one of several who have played in the reserves to feature last night, and one of four of those to score a first senior try.
On that, he said: “Nah, I’m buzzing to get my first try and everything like that. I just thought going into this game, do the effort areas, that’s why Matty picked me he said, and just play it tough. I’d never envisioned it that good.”
Cartwright also explained how and why it was so special that so many other young talents were involved, noting: “We’re all best mates, us young boys.
“Our head coach always drives out in the reserves, so to do it with your best mates on a pitch, I think there were seven or eight of us who were reserve players this year, it was brilliant, really good.
“All those young boys appreciate Matt putting all the trust in us and to put a performance in from us young boys like that is special, it’s really good.”
