Shaun Wane has revealed full-back Sam Tomkins could make his long-awaited return for Wigan in next weekend's Challenge Cup quarter-final at Warrington.
Tomkins has made only 16 appearances for the Warriors since returning to the club from the NRL ahead of the 2016 season.
A knee injury meant the 28-year-old had to wait until May for the first appearance of his second spell at the DW Stadium and then a broken foot saw him miss Wigan's run to the Super League title.
But Tomkins is now back in full training and available for selection.
"If he doesn't play in that game, it'll be the week after," said Wigan head coach Wane."He's under no pressure from me.
"He's done a full session every day this week so he's fit and ready to go."
Tomkins, capped 23 times by his country, was left out of the revised elite performance squad named by England last week but Wane has warned the player all his focus should be on Wigan.
"Sam's sole motivation will be to play for me after being missing for so long," added Wane."I'd be disappointed if he thought about England. He owes us. He needs to play for us."We've missed him. He's a fantastic individual."
Anthony Gelling, Sean O'Loughlin, Liam Farrell, Sam Powell and John Bateman are also set to return against Warrington in a major boost to the struggling champions.
The injury-hit Warriors have gone six games without a win and head into Thursday's derby at Leigh six points adrift of the top four.
But Wane has no doubt his side will rediscover their form in time for the business end of the season.
"I've felt confident going into every game we've played that we had a team capable of winning all of them," he said.
"We're not using injuries as an excuse. We've been beaten by the better team in every one of them.
"I don't like losing games and it needs to be fixed pretty quick. These last few results have hurt the players and hurt me. We need to dust ourselves down, react and make sure Leigh see the best of us on Thursday.
"I'm very confident we'll soon start picking up wins."
Leigh are rooted to the bottom of the table in their first season back in Super League - having won just one of their last 11 games - but Wane knows the Centurions will be fired up to beat their neighbours.
"If we hadn't lost a game for the last two months we'd still want to win this one," said Wane."It's a derby and against a club where we all have a lot of personal friends. The spectators might not like each other but the staff have a very high respect for each other.
"It's going to be a very tense, tough game. It's been a long time since we had a full-blooded derby game in Leigh so it'll be a fantastic atmosphere.
"They're a big, aggressive team and very tough to beat on their own pitch. We're expecting a real tough encounter. One thing you need to do at Leigh is start well and silence the crowd."
Harrison Hansen is set to return from injury to face his former club while half-back Ben Reynolds and back-rower Glenn Stewart are also back for Leigh after missing last week's defeat at Leeds.
