The Story Of 2023
Wigan were the last team to win the Super League Grand Final before Saints began their run of four in a row, so there was a degree of symmetry in the fact that it was Matty Peet’s side that ended their rivals’ dominance in 2023.
Wigan claimed a sixth Super League crown with a 10-2 win over Catalans Dragons at Old Trafford. They also won the League Leaders Shield for the fourth time, snatching it on points difference ahead of both the Dragons and Saints.
That trophy-laden end to the year hadn’t looked on the cards on the evidence of their opening match. Peet’s men went down 27-18 at Hull KR with Shaun Kenny-Dowall claiming a hat-trick for the Robins. The response in the next two games was emphatic. Neither Wakefield nor Castleford could register a single point as the Warriors ran in 36 at Castleford and 60 at home to Trinity. Yet an 18-10 home defeat by Catalans left them with a 50% win rate from their first four as we moved into March.
Five league wins in a row followed, including a 13-6 win at Warrington - which ended the Wolves’ streak of eight wins to open the season - and a 14-6 Good Friday success over Saints. Still, a loss at Hull and a 40-18 towelling by a 12-man Leeds side following Zane Tetevano’s red card showed that Wigan were still suffering from a little schizophrenia. A narrow win at Hull KR stopped the rot but convincing losses to both Catalans and Saints showed that deficiencies remained.
Perhaps the lowlight of this inconsistent spell was a barely credible 27-26 reverse at Wakefield which had followed wins over Huddersfield and Salford. It may have been just the jolt they needed as they ended the regular season with nine straight wins to claim the top spot. This run included a 64-6 pasting of Hull KR who had knocked them out of the Challenge Cup at the semi-final stage 12 days earlier. It also saw Wigan pull off a really impressive 34-0 shutout of the Dragons on their own patch and a 50-0 larruping of Leeds to avenge thar earlier loss.
Top spot brought with it a home semi-final and again Rovers stood in the way. Unlike in the cup meeting, Wigan were comfortably the better side and ran out 42-12 victors. The Grand Final was a rather more attritional, unattractive affair in which Liam Marshall scored the only try in a 10-2 win.
The 2024 Recruits
A lot has been made of how well Wigan have recruited ahead of their title defence. And with some justification. It’s a little top heavy, but it looks ominous. Four of the six major new signings are prop forwards and a fifth is a hooker. But perhaps the pack is exactly where they needed to strengthen. For too long now their front row in particular has been populated by grubby dark arts merchants who never quite convinced.
It would be odd for this column to start anywhere but with Luke Thompson. The 28 year-old won two Super League Grand Finals as a Saint, making 164 appearances for the first team in seven years after coming through the academy. He moved to Canterbury Bulldogs in the NRL in 2020, but after an injury hit spell in Australia he returns to England and the other side of Billinge hill. If he is fully fit and still has the hunger then Thompson will again be the best prop in Super League. Yet it’s hard to shake the feeling - given the way he left Saints in the middle of the pandemic season and the fact that he has joined the other side on his return home - that he is motivated by something other than trophies.
Sam Walters has the potential to achieve everything Thompson has. A Widnesian, 23 year-old Walters was one of the few things Leeds Rhinos fans had to get excited about in 2023. Right up until the time that he announced he was joining Wigan, that is. He already has big game experience having played in the Rhinos’ 2022 Grand Final loss to Saints. He looks a star of the future if not the present and could turn out to be an even better signing than Thompson if he sticks around.
Tiaki Chan has a slightly lower profile. He has been on the fringes of the Catalans Dragons side where his father Alex also played from 2006-08. Tiaki was a semi regular for the French side last term but did not feature in the Grand Final defeat by Wigan.
Making up the quartet of props is 20 year-old Sam Eseh who joins from relegated Wakefield. Eseh made 16 appearances for Trinity in what was a difficult year for the West Yorkshire club. He might have to bide his time to get into the side. We mustn’t forget that as well as Thompson and Walters the Warriors also have ex-Salford man Tyler Dupree while former England international Mike Cooper is working his way back to fitness after being Morganknowlesed last term. Yet if and when Ese is unleashed he might find being in a team challenging at the top of the league rather than one flailing around at the bottom more to his liking.
The Wigan pack is further enhanced by the arrival of hooker Kruise Leeming. Another ex-Leeds man, Leeming left Headingley under a bit of a cloud in the early part of last season. He was a key member of the Rhinos squad until new Head Coach Rohan Smith turned up and things seemed to turn a little sour. Leeming eventually asked for a release from his contract and spent the remainder of 2023 at Gold Coast Titans where he made 10 appearances under the messiah that is Justin Holbrook. As well as being one of the best nines knocking around, 28 year-old Leeming can also fill in at halfback should the need arise.
The one non-forward arriving at Wigan is centre Adam Keighran. A former New Zealand Warrior and Sydney Rooster, Keighran scored 12 tries for the Dragons as they made it all the way to Old Trafford. He can kick goals too. Only five players in Super League slotted over more than the 26 year-old’s 68 goals in 2023. One of those was Wigan’s own Harry Smith. The latter achieved that figure with a success rate of around 62% whereas Keighran’s was up at 77%. All of which could be handy in those tight games against the top sides.
So Who’s Out?
Wigan fans rather strangely wear the loss of their players to NRL clubs as a badge of honour. To them it proves that they are a club capable of producing and nurturing top talent that will be sought after by the very best. To the rest of us it proves that lots of players just don’t want to play for Wigan. You say tomato…and so forth.
Anyway there are two more being applauded out of the door as both Kai Pearce-Paul and Morgan Smithies make the switch to the Australasian competition. Pearce-Paul joins Newcastle Knights after 61 appearances in cherry and white while Smithies heads to the favoured NRL destination of many an English star, Canberra Raiders. He has the kind of aggression and downright nastiness befitting of anyone called Morgan and who might have designs on being a success in the Australian capital. Both he and Pearce-Paul could be a Josh Hodgson or an Elliot Whitehead. Or they could be Wigan’s first signings ahead of the 2025 season. Watch this space.
Sam Powell spent 11 years at Wigan, making 250 appearances. He played in three Grand Final wins, which is going to be something to impress all of his envious new team-mates with as he makes the switch to Warrington for 2024. Latterly he has been sidelined to some degree by the emergence of Brad O’Neill and a move makes sense at this stage of his career especially with the arrival of Leeming.
Cade Cust’s move to Wigan from Manly Sea Eagles hasn’t been a roaring success. He was a starter in the Challenge Cup final win over Huddersfield in his first season but had fallen out of favour in 2023. Peet preferred Bevan French at stand-off alongside halfback Smith in order to accommodate Jai Field at fullback. Cust was also unfortunate with injuries. He hasn’t moved too far, joining Salford Red Devils along with the versatile Joe Shorrocks.
Two much maligned centres move on as Toby King returns to parent club Warrington to spend more time with Powell and Iain Thornley joins Wakefield’s bid to win some matches for a change down in the Championship. The rest of the Wigan exodus is made up of fringe players and youngsters. Twenty year-old prop Kavan Rothwell heads to Leigh while halfbacks Logan Astley and Kieran Tyrer have gone to Oldham to learn from the greatest Saints player Wigan ever produced in Roughyeds Head Coach Sean Long.
Two more forwards move on also as Ramon Silva joins Barrow and Joe Baldwin heads to North Wales Crusaders.
What’s The Expectation?
Since most fans of other clubs are talking up Wigan’s chances in 2024 it’s no surprise to see the Warriors fans doing the same. Last year’s title success coupled with some seemingly handy looking recruitment has emboldened them, and perhaps justifiably so. Nothing but a repeat of 2023 is likely to satisfy a fan base if not brought up on winning then on stories of winning and becoming the most successful club in the British game.
What Will Really Happen?
On the face of it there’s every chance that Peet’s side will go back-to-back and win it all again. Their squad does look the strongest while other heavyweights - Saints among them - might be entering a transitional phase. Or they might just be Leeds.
Wigan have to be a strong favourite for another League Leaders Shield but the key variable is what happens in the playoffs. So much is down to timing. Form and fitness in September and October will decide the destination of the title regardless of what has gone before. That gives everyone else in the top six a chance and so makes picking a title winner so much more difficult.
Wigan also have the world title to play for as Penrith Panthers arrive for a February showdown. This could take a bit out of the champions in the early going but will only impact upon their Grand Final chances if it causes them to slip out of the top two and denies them a home semi-final. That might be a fair trade off to be crowned world champions. Not so much if the Panthers head home with the title.
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