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Sean O'Loughlin is an English professional rugby league player and current captain of the Wigan Warriors of Europe's Super League. A Great Britain international loose-forward, has played his entire career to date with Wigan. O'Loughlin comes from a well connected rugby league family, His dad is the ex-Great Britain player Keiron O'Loughlin and his brother in law was the former Wigan captain Andy Farrell. His dad was a member of the Widnes side that beat Wigan in the 1984 Challenge Cup final.
[edit] Early lifeOn 24 November 1982, Sean O'Loughlin was born in Wigan, England. His father Keiron was an ex-Great Britain player, and he also featured in the 1984 Challenge Cup final for the Widnes side which achieved victory over Wigan.[1] Paradoxically, it was the Wigan-based amateur club St. Patricks ARLFC which gave Sean his first experience of competitive rugby league.[2][3] O'Loughlin is a product of the Wigan Warriors Youth Development, for whom he started playing in under-19s matches in 2001, and continued to do so in 2002.[3] During his time at the academy, O'Loughlin played in a variety of positions, including a game against Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in the senior academy championships where he played at centre scoring two tries,[4] and another against Hull Kingston Rovers where he scored one try playing at second-row.[5] In 2002, he also featured in two matches during the cross-code Middlesex Sevens tournament, playing at scrum-half in a team composed of both Wigan and Orrell RUFC players.[6] Because of this, O'Loughlin remains one of only a handful of rugby league players ever to play at Twickenham Stadium, the home of English rugby union, along with those in the St Helens, Bradford and Huddersfield teams who competed in the 2001 and 2006 Challenge Cup finals. [edit] Wigan Warriors career[edit] Debut seasonO'Loughlin made his breakthrough into the Wigan Warriors first team under head coach Stuart Raper during the 2002 Super League season. His first experience in the first team came as an interchange wearing shirt #22 during the Warriors' 18–20 home defeat to Hull FC.[7] Two weeks later, O'Loughlin scored his first tries for the club as an interchange against Warrington Wolves, and subsequently appeared in six consecutive appearances from the bench. He made his first starting appearance for the Warriors during a 16–41 away victory against Warrington, when he was called upon to replace his injured brother-in-law, Andy Farrell. On that night, O'Loughlin played at loose-forward,[8] which would eventually become his most natural position, but during his first season he played in no less than three positions. After returning from the Middlesex Sevens event where he played scrum-half, he made another starting appearance against Warrington, this time at stand-off.[9] He also started, and scored a try, at centre against Leeds.[10] However, in general O'Loughlin's first season mostly saw him come into the match as an interchange, starting in only five of the twenty-one appearances he made throughout the whole of the league season.[11] [edit] Post-2002Sean played loose forward for most of 2004 with Andrew Farrell moving to prop forward as cover for injuries, during the season he impressed many people earning himself a new contract and a call up to the Great Britain for the 2004 Tri-Nations. 2005 was not a good year for Sean despite making an impressive start to the season on March 2005 he suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. Sean return to the first team in 2006 and was announced as captain by coach Ian Millward, Sean received some criticism from fans for his lack of leadership on the field which was highlighted by Wigan’s poor form at the start of the season. The poor start to the season left Wigan bottom of the Super League and led to the sacking of Ian Millward who was replaced by Brian Noble. O'Loughlin showed a dramatic improvement under Noble, many people credited Sean for his defensive work and at the end of the season he was Wigan’s top tackler. His performance in 2006 earned him a recall into the Great Britain squad for the mid season international with New Zealand and the end of season Tri-Nations in Australia. With Sean's contract expiring at the end of 2006 he was linked with a move to new Australian NRL side Gold Coast for most of the season but in November 2006 he signed a new two deal with Wigan keeping him at the club until 2008. [edit] International careerHe has already gained international experience as part of the 2001 Great Britain Academy of Australia. In 2002 he was named as captain of the England A squad that faced New Zealand in November and later toured Fiji and Tonga. He made 3 appearances on the tour and was sent off and sin-binned in the same match against Fiji. He was named as captain of the 2003 England A squad to face Australia and in the European Nations Cup. Sean also gained his first senior representative honour when he represented Lancashire in the 2003 Origin match. Sean was called into the full Great Britain squad for the first time for the 2004 Tri-Nations Series. He made his debut off the bench against Australia and his first full appearance in the following match against New Zealand. In 2006 Sean was recalled to play in the mid season international against New Zealand at Knowsley Road which Great Britain won. He was also selected in the squad for the 2006 Tri-Nations in Australia, he played in Great Britains opening defeat to New Zealand but played an important role in Great Britains victory over Australia. He missed Great Britains 34-4 defeat to New Zealand with a muscle strain. He has been forced to rule himself out contention for the England training squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup through injury.[12] Likewise he was forced to withdraw from the 2009 Four Nations English squad before the commencement of the series. [edit] References
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