But even at the ages of 24 and 21, the Oldham-born brothers are making the most of time away from their training schedule to work for their father’s construction company, Kape – supported by the Wolves, and an education grant from Rugby League Cares.
“Very few, if any, rugby players can just hang the boots up at the end of their playing careers and be done,” explains Josh, who has been outstanding at both full-back and wing in the first half of the 2026 season, emerging as a strong contender for Brian McDermott’s England World Cup squad.
“I'm only 21, but I thought it was important to have something going alongside rugby,” added Jake, who followed Josh’s path from the renowned Saddleworth Rangers community club to Warrington, and has an impressive try-scoring strike rate having passed 20 senior appearances this season.
“It's not really a long career and anything could happen at any given time - so to have something to fall back on is a bit of stability and a bit of comfort.”
The brothers have been gaining first-hand experience on construction sites since their teenage years, and are now combining that with courses that lead to professional electrician qualifications.
“There's plenty of time to do it - you make time,” said Josh. “It's not just the electrics I'm interested in, it's the whole project management.
“I'd rather be doing what I'm doing - keeping your brain active, I suppose. My dad's got five or six lads working for him at the minute and you go and you have a great laugh with them. It's a completely different kettle of fish to what you deal with here.”
For Steve McCormack, who works with a network of player wellbeing specialists at Super League clubs as Director of Welfare for Rugby League Cares, Warrington’s support of the Thewlis brothers is a great story for the sport.
“Josh and Jake are perfect role models for any current players playing alongside them and any young players coming through,” he said.
“They both could find excuses not to do a dual career, with the pressures of being a professional player. They're playing every week, sometimes twice a week. They're travelling to France, they might be playing international as well. But they've got that self-determination to make sure that they're looking at things they can do alongside playing. They've done a lot of work outside of here as well, a lot of networking. And I know they get great support from their family.
“I think the game can be really proud of the player care programme,” McCormack continued.
“It looks after the whole person's wellbeing. And I think we're really lucky as a sport. The sport invests what we can, and we've got some great player care managers looking after the wellbeing of the players. And evidence proves that if you can do that and you look after them off the field, they play better on the field.
“The dual career programme is really important. There’s a phrase that has been used over the years, players should have a plan B. But I think they should have two plan A’s. Alongside playing, if a player can have a dual career, whether it's some education or a different workplace, it gives some good balance to their lives.
“So it’s really important and we put a lot of emphasis on making sure that players look at dual careers. The clubs are certainly backing us with that.
“Warrington have been outstanding in this area. They've got a new player care manager in Andy Gilvary, who’s been great to work with this year. Key people at the club have really bought into this - Karl Fitzpatrick the CEO, and Gary Chambers the Director of Rugby, are both former players which I think is important in their understanding and support. And the main gatekeeper for the players is Sam Burgess, and he and his coaching staff have really bought into this idea of ensuring that the players are getting a dual career.
“Every Super League player can access education grants. Some due diligence goes into that from a career point of view and making sure that the qualities and the values stack up to what they want to do.
“At the end of the year, we look at measuring each club's performance in this area. I think the main thing is it's not a tick-box exercise. The clubs really value it - the importance of a player doing something alongside playing and preparing for the career after playing.”
For Andy Gilvary, who joined the Wolves as Rugby Operations and Player Wellbeing Manager last winter, the dual career support and educational grants are a key part of Rugby League Cares’ relationship with the Super League clubs.
“In my opinion Rugby League Cares is pivotal to the player journey,” says Gilvary, who has worked in a range of roles in sport in the UK and Australia, including six years as Head of Competitions, Performance and Development for British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS).
“That’s something I want to promote and I want to embed – and I want that to be driven by the players. The likes of Steve McCormack and Adrian Morley come in and speak to the players about what their purpose is – and I want ownership to sit with the playing group.
“If they have an interest or there is something they want to get educated in, our role is to make sure they’ve got the access to it, like Josh and Jake - they’ll move into that electrician space once they’ve finished their career and that should hopefully be set up for them in the next couple of years.
“For me, the priority is always making sure it’s person first, then athlete. We know we’ve got 34 different personalities in that first team squad. We’ve got to cater for that. As a club we’re really proud we can help their education as well as them being professional athletes, and representing the town and the club. We’ve also got a lot of young lads coming through who might have aspiration to go to university, or to finish college courses, and we do have apprenticeship schemes which is great, but it’s not a one size fits all.
“Sam has seen and been through it all at every level of the game; Karl and Gary have their experience of the club and have seen hundreds of players go through the system and what works and what doesn’t. They’re very player centric in terms of making sure we can support the needs of the playing group so they feel like they belong. They drive the culture, and since coming to the Wolves that culture has been really impressive. It’s fascinating actually the way Sam, Gary and all the performance staff connect with the group.
“Josh is part of our leadership group of seven, he’s very humble as are all of the group so he’s easy to work with, but he also understands the importance of looking at life that fits around his game. That’s why it’s been brilliant to work with him and bring him in on this education journey. Jake’s the same, and they set a great example for the younger lads – and Rugby League Cares are with us on that journey.”