Flanagan, the son of former Great Britain loose forward Terry, has been at Fax on a temporary deal since midsummer, scoring six tries in nine appearances.

There have been persistent rumours that the 20-year-old could be set for a return to the club next season, but Flanagan, who followed Warriors coach Brain Noble across the Pennines from Bradford, confirmed his priority is securing a first team place at the JJB.

"I have another year on my contract at Wigan and I want to go back there, train hard, have a good winter and stay injury free," said Flanagan, who made his final appearance in last weekend's 24-22 play off loss to Whitehaven.

"Wigan have a lot of faith in me, and it's up to me to produce the performances.

"If I can do that, then hopefully I can break into the first team.

"But I've loved every minute of it at Halifax.

"Playing in the reserves at Wigan isn't the most challenging thing at times, and all the lads have been great here.

"Halifax play an exciting brand of rugby, they throw the ball about and score lots of points and it's been great to be part of it.

"I feel I've improved, just through training and playing with some of the players they have here.

"It's brought the best out of me, because I think I was stuck in the same routine a bit at Wigan and this has been pretty refreshing for me.

"It was a disappointing way to finish, losing to Whitehaven.

"It was a good battle and a few calls didn't go our way, which on another day would have given us a few more points.

"Credit to Whitehaven, they hung in there and got the better of us in the end."

That's not to say that Fax have seen the last of the Oldham-based youngster though, with Flanagan hinting he would be keeping his options open if life at the JJB Stadium turns sour.

"It's been mentioned about coming back here, but I want to see if I can play in the top league," he said.

"If it doesn't work out, then I'd definitely think about coming back because I've made some great friends here.

"We'll have to wait and see."

England could face a hooking crisis after being hit by two more withdrawals from coach Tony Smith's World Cup train-on squad.

Bradford number nine Terry Newton has joined Warrington's Jon Clarke on the sidelines, taking to five the number of injured Great Britain internationals.

Clarke pulled out on Saturday after breaking an arm in Warrington's play-off defeat at Catalans Dragons while Newton and his Bradford team-mate Andy Lynch were ruled out with shoulder injuries.

Another Bradford forward, Sam Burgess, and Wigan loose forward Sean O'Loughlin had earlier pulled out of contention, also with shoulder injuries.