Sam Powell: Team-mates past and present laud hooker as he departs Wigan Warriors for Warrington Wolves
Sam Powell (front right) shares a joke with his Wigan Warriors team-mates after their 2023 Super League Grand Final triumph - Alamy
As has become customary when a player leaves a club, Sam Powell posted his own farewell to Wigan Warriors on social media, and was met with floods of comments from fans as well as team-mates past and present.
Powell’s departure from hometown club Wigan was confirmed on Friday night, with the 31-year-old joining fellow North West outfit Warrington Wolves on a two-year deal starting in 2024.
He bows out of the DW Stadium 11 years on from his senior debut having made 273 appearances for the Cherry and Whites, with the only other shirts he’s donned in that time at club level as a loanee for both South Wales Scorpions & now-League 1 outfit Workington Town.
The Warriors paid their own tribute to the forward following his departure, and having posted his own message on social media in the aftermath, Powell was inundated with well wishes.
Sam Powell’s past and present team-mates laud hooker as he departs Wigan Warriors for Warrington Wolves
Former England Knights international Powell took to Instagram, and kept his post short and sweet. Captioning a picture taken after last month’s Super League Grand Final win over French outfit Catalans Dragons, that his third Old Trafford triumph, he simply wrote: “Thank you @wiganwarriorsrl”
There were hundreds of comments underneath, including those from his Warriors team-mates, both past and present. Of the current crop in Matt Peet’s side, both Liam Marshall and Abbas Miski bid Powell a fond farewell.
Fellow academy product Marshall said: “Legend ❤️”
Meanwhile, Lebanon international winger Miski added: “All the best bro 👏”
Veteran Iain Thornley recently left the DW Stadium for Wakefield Trinity, and continued: “Yes pal 👏”
Having departed Wigan himself at the end of the 2020 season and hung up his boots not long after, Ben Flower also commented on Powell’s post, saying: “Not many wouldn’t want this guy by their side on the field. Great work pal. Outstanding achievement and was always a pleasure 👏”
And last but not least, 2019 Man of Steel Jackson Hastings – who spent two years alongside Powell at the Warriors – hailed the hooker, re-affirming the sentiments of those already noted as he wrote: “Great knock lad 🤝”
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