MEET the Warrington fan who travelled more than 10,000 miles from the other side of the world to see his side play this weekend.

Eddie Carey was so confident Wembley Way would be awash with primrose and blue during the August bank holiday weekend he booked his flights three months ago to coincide with the semi final and final.

The retired taxi driver will be in the town until September 1 on what is his 10th trip back home after emigrating to the Gold Coast in 1968.

Eddie, who returned to Warrington for 10 years in 1990, added: “I was determined to be here so nothing would have stopped me coming.

“You never forget your roots so it’s great to be back.

“I knew the semi final would just be a formality and I’ve been back for three Challenge Cup finals before.”

But his journey did not run entirely smoothly as 36 hours sat on a plane led to the COPD-sufferer being rushed to hospital after finding it hard to breathe the day after his flight on Tuesday.

The 73-year-old said: “I couldn’t get my breath and my wife Gillian called an ambulance.

“I thought I was going to be waiting in the hospital for hours but within five minutes they had me in a cubicle and I think all the doctors and nurses there deserve a big bunch of flowers.

“I read the Warrington Guardian in Australia and you hear complaints about the NHS in England all the time but for me everyone was fantastic.”