We’re used to seeing Wigan’s name linked with rugby league success, but we could be seeing it even more, as their women’s team sets its sights on achieving top honours too.
WITH one piece of silverware already in the bag, something special could be brewing at Wigan Warriors.
In an era where their men’s side currently holds all four major trophies, the club’s female stars are looking to get in on the act and enjoy some league success of their own.
After knocking on the door for the last few seasons, the Warriors now look like genuine challengers for the top honours that have most recently been shared out amongst the so-called big three of St Helens, Leeds Rhinos and York Valkyrie.
Anyone in any doubt over that statement should look back to a defining eight days in late July when the Cherry and Whites picked up their first win over one of those leading sides when they beat York 18-10 in the league, before beating Leeds 21-0 in the final of the Nines the following weekend to claim the trophy.
Two confidence-boosting wins without a doubt, but ultimately worth very little if they don’t build on it going into the final weeks of the campaign.
“The Nines came at the right time for us,” said captain Rachel Thompson, who featured on the losing side in the final of the same competition in 2023.
“We’ve been building all season and then on the back of the win against York the week before we went into it with a lot of confidence.
“We have a lot of younger players in our squad that have a lot of speed and a lot of skill and that was something they could really showcase because you have a lot more space out there in the Nines.
“We probably shocked ourselves a little bit last year with how well we did in getting to the Final, so as disappointed as we were to lose it, it proved what we could do. That helped us to go into this year’s final a lot more confident.
“We were more clinical with our skills as well and used everything we have been working on in the regular season to put ourselves in those spaces for the faster players to work in.
“For the young girls especially they can take a lot from the Nines win. They’ll have more confidence in themselves and what they can bring to the league so hopefully they can carry that on in the final few games.
“We’ve felt this coming ourselves because we have been improving every week. We have still got more to give and we will keep working on that every week.
“If you go into a game believing you can do it and believing in the player next to you it does help and that’s what happened against York. We’ve done it once, so now we’ve got to keep doing it.
“We don’t just want to be turning up and competing, we want to be winning these big games and we know we have got the players to do it. Other teams are also aware of what we can do now and that will make them up their game, so we have to keep doing the same.”
In the Nines some of the club’s exciting, younger players came to the fore, proving to Thompson that the club have taken the right approach in their steady rebuilding process after winning the 2018 Grand Final.
“We know what we can achieve now so have set ourselves high standards,” added the 29-year-old who believes the future will remain bright for the club once the more senior players in the squad like herself hang up their boots.
“We had a very experienced squad in 2018 full of players who had been playing for a long time, but things changed and we needed to rebuild.
“But we have done that gradually and in the right way by investing in our academy and youth systems. We knew it would be a long process but it is paying off now and we have young local players pushing their way into the first team now.
“Girls like Grace Banks, Izzy Rowe and Jenna Foubister are the future of this club. So for players like myself and Vicky Molyneux who might not be playing for much longer, we know that when we do finish there will be more girls out there that love this shirt as much as we do.”
A big part of this season’s turnaround has been down to the appointment of club legend Denis Betts as coach, and for Thompson, that decision is more than paying dividends both on and off the field.
“Denis has been great with all the girls,” and the lifelong Wigan fan admits it is a strange sensation to now be working with someone so renowned at the club.
“It is surreal sometimes to think that I’m now working with Denis. I don’t really remember him as a player, but he has always been a legend around the club, so it is sometimes a pinch me moment when I can pick up the phone to ask him for advice.
“His experience of the whole game is probably not something most of the girls have had the benefit of before so it is very new to them, and even those who have been playing for a long time are continually learning from him.
“He’s never coached women before so he is always learning too and when you have an environment where everyone is working hard and willing to learn, it’s going to be successful. And that’s what we’ve created at Wigan.
“He was the breath of fresh air that we needed. He didn’t know too much about the game or any of the players but he picked all that up for himself. That made it feel a bit more personal and doing it that way created real trust and respect from all the girls for doing that, and that is getting the results on the pitch as well.
“The game has changed a lot across the board since we won in 2018, so whatever we do now is going to feel different to how it was then. But we’re getting back up there and I fully believe we can win more silverware in the very near future.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 500 (September 2024)
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