\n Off it, however, it is about to end in a very special way as he and partner Lauren prepare for the arrival of the ultimate Christmas gift.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy Mrs is due any time now, so that will make it extra-special when I do get back on the field,\u201d the Warrington Wolves flyer told the Warrington Guardian as the couple await the arrival of their first child.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019re having a little girl, so having her there when I\u2019m back on the field will be a very proud moment.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHopefully, that will be sooner rather than later!\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The anticipation of their new arrival has certainly added an exciting strand to what has already been a very different pre-season for the 27-year-old.\n<\/p>\n
\n As his teammates prepare for the new campaign, he is on the verge of joining them having worked his way through the final stages of recovery after seeing his 2025 season brought to a cruel early end.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ashton limping out of the Challenge Cup semi-final victory over Leigh Leopards soured what turned out to be the most joyous day of The Wire\u2019s season, but news of a devastating ACL injury robbed them of their biggest attacking weapon for what remained of the season and denied Ashton himself some personal milestones.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ashton suffered his injury during this contest for the ball during the Challenge Cup semi-final against Leigh Leopards (Image: Richard Walker)\n<\/p>\n
\n While he may have missed out on the chance of Wembley redemption and representing England in the Ashes series, he has been working away in the shadows to make sure he can play a full part in 2026.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m on track,\u201d he said as he gave an update on his recovery.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s not been a smooth road and you have your hiccups along the way but I\u2019m enjoying being back among the lads again.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m aiming to be back fully with the lads in the new year and be firing for Round One.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf not, it\u2019s not the end of the world but hopefully I\u2019ll be back for that first game.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThat\u2019s definitely my target \u2013 it\u2019s not nailed-on because you\u2019ve got to be 100 per cent but I\u2019m confident in myself. My body has certainly adapted to this change a lot.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling good at the minute and hopefully I\u2019ll be back as soon as possible\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Being involved in post-season international games with England in 2023 and 2024 has meant that Ashton has got used to coming into the club season off something of a shorter run-up of late.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, he was kicking down the door on Day One of pre-season in early-November in what he says is a refreshing return to the norm.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed it to be honest,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a couple of years now since I\u2019ve had a full pre-season so I\u2019m working my socks off trying to get my body right.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s certainly been brutal \u2013 we\u2019ve simplified a lot of things. Sam (Burgess) and Steve (McNamara) have been really good along with Rich Marshall \u2013 they\u2019re making sure we\u2019re doing the basics well which I think is what we struggled with last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIf we get those basics right along with our effort, we know we won\u2019t be far off.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n As well as six new signings, McNamara\u2019s arrival onto the coaching staff has been the biggest change at The Halliwell Jones Stadium during the off-season.\n<\/p>\n
\n How a man of his experience dovetails with head coach Burgess has piqued the interest of observers, but Ashton was keen to offer a glimpse of how things have worked so far.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe’s brought a calm head around the place,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHim, Sam and Rich have worked well together and because he\u2019s got that many years of experience behind him, he\u2019s calmed things down a bit.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe\u2019s got the trust of the staff and the players so hopefully he can help us go that step further.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Off it, however, it is about to end in a very special way as he and partner Lauren…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-326402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}