They are the two quickest full-backs he’s seen - and Wigan’s Iain Thornley has one either side of him.
It is no wonder the big centre is enjoying his rugby again given he has Jai Field and Bevan French whizzing around. Thornley scored twice in Friday’s 40-22 win at Warrington - his first tries since rejoining his hometown club after a seven-year absence.
Electric Aussie full-back Field was on fire again creating the space for the 30-year-old to do his thing. The brilliant French was on Thornley’s wing before switching to No1 in the second half. He recalled: “We had a good night, especially first half down our right edge.
"You’ve John Bateman and Harry Smith, then Jai coming around and Bevan outside him. There’s a lot of strike and it takes defenders off me because they’re worried about them. It gives me a bit more space to do what I can do. A lot of attention has been on Jai and what he does because of his danger and it frees us up.
“It’s just raw speed. I think it’s something Jai’s had forever. I can’t say I’ve ever seen any with the speed he’s got. Matty Bowen was pretty quick but he was a bit more agile on his feet. Probably the closest, was when Bevan was in full flight playing full-back a couple of years ago. It’s not bad for me now having them on either side of me!”
Wigan will need all of them to be at their best to beat St Helens in Saturday’s Betfred Challenge Cup semi-final at Elland Road. They are joint top with their arch-rivals in Super League but lost 22-4 against them on Good Friday. Thornley, who rejoined from Leigh in the off-season, was sidelined with a shoulder injury having already missed eight weeks with an ankle problem.
Friday was only his fourth game this term and he said: “I was gutted to miss
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