George Williams hands Warrington huge boost as return date locked in

George Williams insists he WILL be fit for the Rugby League World Cup – and in even better news for Warrington Wolves, he is adamant he will be back for the business end of the season.

The Wire and England captain is currently out of action due to neck surgery he underwent last month, with initial fears being that it could bring a premature end to his season.

But the halfback has provided an exclusive update on his injury and insists he could be back as soon as August, giving him time to help the Wire in their attempts to win a Grand Final, while also playing his way into form for the World Cup.

He said: “All going to plan, obviously, I spoke to the surgeon, he’ll not sign me off to do contact three months post-surgery. So that’ll take me to probably mid-August. And I’m hoping to play the week after that if I’m honest!

“So that’s what we’ve got in place. I’ve started running now, doing a little bit of gym. So at least I’m actually moving now. I was stagnant for a while, which was frustrating.”

“No chance” Williams’ Warrington career is over

Williams will return to the NRL next year but when asked if there was any possibility his time at Warrington was over, Williams said: “No chance.

“It could be complicated and it still might be. Obviously, I think I’m a month post-op, and I’ve had no issues. Obviously, my training’s going to ramp up and we’ll see from there. But fingers crossed, no complications. I should be all right.”

Explaining the nature of the injury, Williams said: “I had a bulging disc, C5, C6, I’m going a little bit technical here. It was just touching my spinal cord. I got numb hands for like, four or five days, which obviously is not a good sign. So yeah, the procedure was I had to get an operation, or I couldn’t play again. So yeah, it was a no-brainer.

“I got it done, they take it out, put a cage in, and then your bone grows back around the cage. It sounds extreme, and I was sat in the meeting thinking, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m done here?’ But he said plenty of lads have had it done and were still playing. He mentioned Alex Walmsley, he had this a lot worse than mine, and he’s still going well. So it gave me some confidence to get back.”

The injury came more severe after an incident in the defeat to Catalans Dragons, his most recent appearance for the club. “It was literally a minor crusher. And then that’s when my hands went numb, and I said, that’s not right. So I went off for the green card. Came back on, finished the game, and then in the morning it’s still numb. I said, ‘this is not normal.’”