Father Ted

Wigan by a few. Cas are a new squad and will need time to get their plays and defence sorted. Score 10-36

Leeds injuries may hinder them giving Leigh a winning start to the season.

Looking at MZH's likely Hull squad there I just can't see Bradford getting anywhere close to them. Hull looked good in the first half of their friendly at Wigan. 2nd half was a subs half. The Hull pack looked good without Ese'ese and Sezer missing from the halves. Hull by a lot. Score 42-4

As a Wigan fan I know how good Wakey are on their own patch. TO may well find out themselves this weekend.

Even with Knowles gone and Lees injured I do think nSaints will have too much for Warrington. Score 12-22.

4248 at Rochdale for their game v Wigan. (From the Wigan RL site)

Matt Peet saying Sam Eseh, Ethan Havard and Brad O'Neil will be in the mix for the C Cup game at Rochdale. He mentions that the line up will be a starter for the first SL game of the season at Castleford. No mention of Harry Smith so no doubt Jack Farrimond will be scrum half. There were rumours around Wigan that Smith would struggle to make the Cas game. We shall see!

The halftime 6-6 was a good reflection of the first half. Very competitive with a good intensity for a friendly. Pryce seemed the only player to cop a knock but quite a few didn't return for the 2nd half. Martin was excellent and showed Wigan's right edge defence needs to up their game. Nsemba was good for Wigan and Field came into the game second half. French looked very lively as friendlies are usually not his kind of gig. I thought Arthur looked good ball in hand but got caught out defence wise a couple of times. He may be fully fit, maybe not. Looks like he could be a handy signing. It was a good game and well worth a watch.

Wigan confirm the signing of Oliver Partington on a five year deal. Kruise Leeming going to Catalans on a one year loan. They expect Leeming will get a permanent contract at the end of his loan deal. No one knows what position Partington will play but suspect it will be loose forward. Kaide Ellis moving to prop filling the gap due to Oliver Wilson being out for the season with an ACL injury.

Us Wigan fans think Partington may play 13 with Kaide Ellis going to prop. Different kind of prop to Wilson but Ellis is a big man never the less. Looks like Leeming wasn't going to g to be offered a deal for next season and beyond with Forber being the bench hooker as O'Neil will have the 9 shirt again. With Wilson being out for the season Wigan need a prop. Be it Partington or Ellis this seems to be the answer for 2026.

Curious rumour around Wigan. Apparently Kruise Leeming is off to Perpignan with Oli Partington leaving Catalans and returning to the Warriors. Most fans can't see the logic of this as Partington left as not being good enough and has not gone down well at all. The most serious part suggests Partington will go to 13 with Kaide Ellis moving from loose to play prop. O'Neil still 9 with Forber off the bench. Wigan obviously looking for a prop after having lost Oliver Wilson for the season with an ACL injury, this looks like their answer.

Wigan have issued their squad numbers for this coming season and as rumoured Eckersley gets the No2 shirt. Full List : 1 Jai Field, 2 Zach Eckersley, 3 Adam Keighran, 4 Jake Wardle, 5 Liam Marshall, 6 Bevan French, 7 Harry Smith, 8 Ethan Havard, 9 Brad O'Neil, 10 Luke Thompson, 11 Junior Nsemba, 12 Liam Farrell, 13 Kaide Ellis, 14 Sam Walters, 15 Patrick Mago, 16 Abbas Miski, 17 Kruise Leeming, 18 Warriors Fans, 19 Jack Farrimond, 20 Sam Eseh, 21 Oliver Wilson, 22 Tom Forber, 23 Kian McDermott, 24 Harvey Makin, 25 Taylor Kerr, 26 Nathan Lowe, 27 Lucas Mason, 28 Noah Hodgkinson, 29 Tiaki Chan, 30 George Hurst, 31 Jonny Vaughan, 32 Dayon Sambou, 33 George O'Loughlin, 34 Finley Yeomans, 35 Finn McMillan. Miski at 16 is probably down to him recently having surgery and not being fully fit for the season's start. Eckersley will be difficult to shift from the 2 shirt, until he moves to centre I'd imagine. Wilson has an ACL injury and may well miss the whole season. The backs do have a lot of pace and I'd be surprised if team tactics didn't try to develop and exploit this advantage. After not winning anything in 2025 I'd expect a better season from Wigan with a trophy to show for their efforts.

That there is demand from supporters towards the International game is evidenced from the take up of tickets for the Aussie series at Everton and Leeds. Whilst Wembley wasn't as large a crowd as wanted the overall tickets sold proved the demand for International Rugby y League from paying customers. So what kind of leadership ignores what its supporter base is clearly prepared to pay for and support in very large numbers? The answer surely is a leadership that is not good enough to run the sport. We do have people in the game at club level who could take Rugby League to levels rarely seen before. They are out numbered though by other club owners who are only interested in their own club and nothing more. It is this number of owners that prevent RugbyLeague in the UK from progressing. I, for one, am reluctant for overseas involvement in running the game but when we look at the success of the NRL at all levels that is probably where the quality leadership must come from. Just as decades ago Aussie coaches improved the game here immensely then probably it is NRL administrators who can take the game forward. In their comments International Rugby League would be firmly in their plans. The future for Rugby League can be very bright but not under the current RFL/SL leadership we currently have. The obvious follow up for Gary Carter's excellent article to for the NRL influence to lead our sport here in the UK.

I like their idea of going to 19 players with 6 on the bench with just four to be used at the choice of the coach. We should go to announcing a squad of 19 two days before the game and adopt the same rule as the NRL are proposing. Maybe also two of those bench players should be U21s. Naming a squad with all players eligible to play seems far more sensible than our current system of 21 then dropping four for the game. Never seen any sense in that. As for the kick off, their thoughts on changing have been tried before and failed. The Aussies will know this so why are going down this route again? As for set re-starts. Don't like them and never have. Go back to penalties.

Nothing yet from the Wigan club on squad numbers. There's a rumour around that Miski won't be 2, Eckersley will have the shirt. We'll find out one day!