Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet says the plan had always been for Bevan French to make his return for the Challenge Cup final.
A large portion of French’s season had looked to be over in March as he suffered a hamstring injury.
That injury was due to keep the talismanic stand-off out for four months, which would have ruled him out until early July.
However he returned for a second-half cameo at Wembley and scored a try within a matter of minutes to help his side on the way to a 40-10 win over Hull KR.
“It’s been the plan for a while,” Peet said in his post-match press conference.
“We always had this game in mind. He had to be ticking the boxes off along the way in terms of his running, scans, strength tests and markers.
“The physios were saying throughout the process that this game would be achievable.
“There was be an option to play him for more minutes but we were comfortable in the position we were in and with how Jack [Farrimond] was playing.
“We wouldn’t have risked losing him for the rest of the season.”