New Wigan Warriors signing’s rise from Amazon driver to Super League star

George Hirst is Wigan's sole signing for 2025. Pic credit: Wigan Warriors.
Most aspiring young Super League players begin life in the first-team environment having spent several years being nurtured in their club’s Scholarship and Academy.
But George Hirst has taken a rather more circuitous route to the top, having joined Wigan Warriors from Oldham Roughyeds in October.
The imposing Yorkshireman was working as a delivery driver for Amazon when Matt Peet came calling with the offer of a two-year contract.
Hirst’s performances for Sean Long’s side in their promotion-winning League 1 campaign last term highlighted his potential and prompted the 2024 quadruple winners to swoop.
“The move came right out of the blue because not many players get the chance to join Wigan from League 1,” 23-year-old Hirst, who hails from Birstall in West Yorkshire, tells Love Rugby League.
“I’m very much a late developer, certainly in the professional ranks, and there are 18-year-old first-teamers here at Wigan whereas I turn 24 in May.
“It’s a completely opposite route to a lot of Wigan’s young lads and I’ve not had an Academy background, apart from about a month at Castleford Tigers.
“I couldn’t commit to it because I went to university and found after two years that wasn’t for me either.
“It was hard doing Uni through Covid but rugby league has always been my passion and I’ve always wanted to make it to the next step but was never given the opportunity.
“I played for England Lions Under-19s and there were one or two lads who got an opportunity from there but I wasn’t one of them.”
Nevertheless, the move to Oldham afforded Hirst a chance to shine and he took it with aplomb. Even now, after an arduous pre-season with last season’s quadruple winners, the Yorkshireman is still coming to terms with such a life-changing move.
Having left his job as a delivery driver to go full-time with Wigan, Hirst said: “My job at Amazon wasn’t really one I enjoyed.
“But not many jobs fitted in with the schedule at Oldham – starting training at 6pm – and that one did. I’m just happy and grateful to have this opportunity at Wigan.”
Hirst played his amateur rugby league at Dewsbury Moor aged nine. Then came a stint at Dewsbury Celtic before a return to Dewsbury Moor to play open-age and a switch to Almondbury Spartans in the Yorkshire Men’s League.
It was there he caught Oldham’s eye, signing for them ahead of the 2023 campaign before his outstanding season for Long’s men last term.
“Two of the players at Spartans, Kian Morgan and Jordan Paga, were at Oldham previously and they put in a word for me,” remembered Hirst, who can operate in the front and back row.
“They said ‘this lad is playing well for Spartans and is better than this league, essentially’ so I got an opportunity at Oldham and never looked back.”
As part of the transfer which took Hirst from Oldham to Wigan, the sides will play each other at Boundary Park on Sunday in a pre-season friendly.
Hirst, having never played at a higher level than the third tier, is set to spend the 2025 campaign on loan with the newly-promoted Roughyeds in the Championship.
But he is now very much a Wigan player and could make his first appearance for them against Oldham this weekend.
“The plan is to make my debut for Wigan in a Super League game,” said Hirst, a boyhood Leeds Rhinos fan who also used to work at Leeds United on matchdays.
“Whether I get that opportunity or not, I don’t know, but I need to make the step up to the Championship first because I’ve never played higher than League 1.
“But being in this environment at Wigan can only help me in my development. To be honest, I thought a lot of the players here would have some sort of ego. But with the way Matty coaches, and the ethos of the club, it’s the complete opposite.
“There are no egos – Matty doesn’t allow it – and it’s like you’re all on the same level. I think that’s why they’re doing so well and it’s how it should be as a club. It’s down to me now, no-one else. Can I train well enough?
“Can I play well enough for Oldham to make Wigan think ‘let’s see what he’s like in Super League?’ I just need to make myself known.”
Hirst’s career trajectory has echoes of Alex Walmsley’s dramatic rise.
The England prop, one of the finest front-rowers of his generation, similarly hails from the Heavy Woollen district and caught the eye playing for Batley Bulldogs before St Helens signed him in 2013.
Hirst revealed: “Alex is actually best mates with my girlfriend’s brother. I spoke to him before I signed for Wigan. I said ‘I’ve got some offers, what do you think?’ and he gave me some advice.
“He came through the exact same route – 23 years old, he came from Batley, signed for Saints and never looked back. That’s a big inspiration for someone like me.”