At just 16, Matthew Turner has made a spectacular impact in the Wheelchair Super League with Wigan Warriors. Now, the prolific try-scorer is preparing for the biggest challenge of his young career.

WIGAN WARRIORS and Wales’ Matthew Turner can perhaps count himself unlucky not to have been named as Wheelchair Super League’s Young Player of the Year after an impressive and high-scoring debut season in the competition.

The youngster will turn 17 on the day Wales take on Ireland in the forthcoming World Cup, where he’ll take on a number of the club team-mates he has fitted in well with since he made his Super League debut on 11th April, scoring a hat-trick of tries in Wigan’s 75-20 win over Sheffield Eagles.

While London Roosters’ Max Owen was named the game’s best young talent, Turner has made it into my Team of the Year after his 43 tries for Wigan this season helped them reach a Super League semi-final and established him as one of the top try-scorers in Wheelchair Super League.

Despite being only 16 years old, he’s a very experienced wheelchair player, as he explains.

“I went to a taster session with North Wales Crusaders following the last World Cup which was planned for 2021, but pushed back to 2022. I went there with my dad and from that point I basically just fell in love with the sport.

“It was a sport that I could play alongside my dad and that’s the first time I could do something like that. I just fell in love with it from there.”

Matthew’s father Martin is also an outstanding player and is one of the star performers at North Wales Crusaders in the RFL Championship. He’s also very likely to be in the Wales squad alongside his son in Australia.

But Matthew has excelled since he made his Crusaders debut in 2023, when he scored the first of the 59 tries he’d accumulate in the Welsh League. He’s now the second-highest try-scorer in the short history of the competition, and the top points-scorer with 367 points in 27 appearances, helping his side to a league and cup double in 2025.

“I started at age 13 in the Welsh League and the Crusaders A-Team in the RFL leagues at that point,” he remembers. “It was good to win trophies with Crusaders. Obviously, I enjoy winning, I’m a naturally competitive person so it’s nice to win, which is always good for the World Cup of course.”

Earlier this year, he played in the Challenge Cup for Crusaders against Wigan, and while the Super League side won that day, it heralded the start of something bigger for Matthew.

“I’d been dreaming of a move to Wigan for a little while, wanting to play in the Super League, move on to that next level,” he said.

“After we played them in the Challenge Cup at the start of this season, I had a chat with Phil Roberts, head coach there, and the move started fairly quickly.

“I’ve loved playing at Crusaders and in the Welsh League, playing with the friends that I’ve made since the beginning, but Super League has been amazing and being able to play and score at the top level has really helped me as a player.”

In his 13 appearances for Wigan this season, he only failed to get on the scoresheet once, with the highlight being an 11-try haul in a 108-18 win over Bradford Bulls, in a match where Wigan had a few first-choice players missing due to an Ireland international being played on the same day.

“It was good, it was enjoyable,” he remembers. “We had a few players missing, but I wasn’t trying to keep count of them really, I was just playing and putting myself where I needed to be, and it worked quite well apparently.”

And now he’s set for the World Cup with Wales.

“I’d say for at least a year or two, it’s been in my sights,” Matthew said. “Obviously the first part of that was debuting for Wales, which I did in November 2025 against the UK Armed Forces. That was uncapped and then I played again in February, again against the UK Armed Forces, and then in the Celtic Cup quite recently and made my full cap appearance then.”

Turner started against both Scotland and Ireland, scoring a hat-trick in each match. Both were close encounters, with Wales beating Scotland but losing against Ireland. Now, he’ll be facing the Irish again on his birthday.

“That game will be a must-win,” he said. “It could be the match that decides who qualifies for the semi-finals. We don’t know too much about USA, but we know England and Ireland are going to be good. It’s going to be a tough tournament but we’re going into it to do well.”

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 525 (October 2026)