LEAGUE EXPRESS previews Matt Peet’s first season in charge of Wigan Warriors.
THE DEPARTURES
Along with the exit of head coach Adrian Lam after three seasons at the club, which brought one League Leaders’ Shield, the headline losses for Wigan after last season were the departures of both Oliver Gildart and Jackson Hastings to NRL side Wests Tigers.
A product of the Wigan system, centre Gildart departs the DW Stadium after almost 150 appearances for the club, two Grand Final victories and a World Club title.
The England and Great Britain international will have a crack at the NRL and will do so with at least one familiar face as Hastings made the same trip.
The halfback didn’t quite hit the heights of his Salford spell during his two years at Wigan, but the former Man of Steel returns to Australia ready to make a fresh impact and is in turn a significant loss for the Warriors.
The other off-season departures have been more fringe players, with prop Joe Bullock leaving the club for a second time, three seasons after joining from Barrow, to join Warrington.
Amir Bourouh also leaves for another Super League club; the young hooker switching to Salford to try and earn a regular spot there, while Mitch Clark has signed permanently for Championship side Newcastle Thunder after a previous loan spell there, ending a low-key two years at Wigan.
Clark will be joined in the north east by two young Wigan players – Matty Nicholson and Alex Sutton – who will both join Thunder on season-long loans, but with recall clauses during 2022.
Tony Clubb retired at the end of last season after eight years of great service at the Warriors, while it was also the end for Dom Manfredi’s desperately unfortunate career.
THE ARRIVALS
New coach Matt Peet has been promoted from within and knows the club inside out and back to front, holding around a decade of coaching experience with the Warriors under his belt.
He has six new signings to play with in his first season, with three coming from the NRL and three from the domestic game.
The task of replacing Hastings is set to fall on the shoulders of Cade Cust, a 23-year-old brought in from Manly Sea Eagles, where he had 27 appearances to his name.
Kaide Ellis has split his career so far between Penrith Panthers and St George, never quite becoming a regular at either but hoping to do so now in Super League.
Fellow prop Patrick Mago is the most experienced of the trio arriving from Australia, the Kiwi having played for North Queensland Cowboys, Brisbane Broncos and, most recently, South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Of the domestic arrivals, Iain Thornley needs no introduction to Wigan fans as he joins for this third spell at the club, having come through the junior ranks and then returned for a four-year first-team spell that included a key role with the double-winners of 2013.
Abbas Miski and Ramon Silva round off the list by joining from London Broncos, the former an Australian winger who scored 18 tries for the Broncos last season in his first year in the country, and the latter a young Brazilian prop who is yet to make a first-team debut.
THE SPINE
Cust joins a spine that has seen a fair amount of flux in recent years.
What hasn’t changed is the presence of Thomas Leuluai and Sam Powell, who between them have made well over 500 appearances in cherry and white. Whether at halfback or hooker, both will surely continue to play key roles this year.
At halfback, Cust will also be competing with fellow Aussie Jai Field, who missed almost all his first season at the club in 2021 and will hope for better luck to make a proper impact second time around.
Field’s misfortune helped Harry Smith emerge last season, playing in every single fixture for the club, but added competition might require further improvement to remain a regular.
At fullback, Bevan French will be the first choice when he arrives back in the UK, having spent an extended spell back home in Australia following the loss of his mother.
Zak Hardaker is expected to be considered firstly as a centre, but the former Man of Steel provides a more than useful fall-back option at number one.
THE PACK
Patrick Mago and Kaide Ellis arrive from Australia to bolster the front row of a pack that weighed in a fraction underpowered too often last season.
Between that pair and Brad Singleton, a multiple trophy winner in his long spell at Leeds, there should be enough grunt among the leading props to give Wigan more drive this year under Peet.
Beyond them comes the young batch, with Oliver Partington, Ethan Havard and Liam Byrne all now Warriors regulars with another full year of experience at the top level under their belts.
The back-row ought to be the strongest in the land, or close to it. Liam Farrell and John Bateman are both long-standing and excellent servants of the club and key pillars for England on the international scene too, while Morgan Smithies is one of the brightest young talents around and could easily follow in their footsteps on both counts.
Willie Isa was used as a centre by Lam last season, but if he were to return to the pack under new management, he would be another disruptive weapon in there.
Then there is Kai Pearce-Paul, another formidable young talent at only 20, and Joe Shorrocks, who at just 21 last year was the top tackler in all Super League and featured for the Warriors in every game.
THE THREEQUARTERS
Zak Hardaker is expected to remain in the threequarter line this season and he is likely to head the sparse centre ranks, where Iain Thornley’s arrival only covers for the loss of Oliver Gildart.
Notwithstanding the versatility of Willie Isa and Kameron Pearce-Paul, the next option at centre is 20-year-old Sam Halsall.
There is a little more depth when it comes to wingers, with Jake Bibby, Liam Marshall, Umyla Hanley and new boy Abbas Miski all contenders for the two starting spots.
Bibby has proven his value in two seasons at the club and Marshall, still only 25, has scored 65 tries in 89 Super League games. Hanley has played nine Super League games in two seasons and will want this to be a breakthrough season, while Miski was just short of scoring a try a game in the Championship but will need to adapt to the top tier.
THE YOUNGSTERS
There’s certainly no shortage of young players coming up through Wigan’s highly-successful Academy, many of whom Peet will know and trust having overseen their progress.
Morgan Smithies and Ethan Havard are still very much in the youngster category at 21, as are Pearce-Paul and Halsall at 20.
Umyla Hanley is still only 19 and he is a player every Wigan fan is excited about. The fullback or winger will aim to build on a season that brought him and five tries.
Hooker Brad O’Neill, 19, is also well placed for further action after playing eight times last year.
A REALISTIC AIM FOR 2022
Wigan enter each season aiming to compete for all the trophies on offer and having topped the table as recently as 2020 there is clearly enough quality in the squad to be contending for the major honours.
Much will depend on how Matt Peet settles into his first senior coaching role, with the nature of his appointment making him the biggest unknown among the new head coaches in Super League.
Wigan tend to be tough and durable enough to grind their way to the play-offs, and if their top talents are all fit and firing come the end of the year, then they can be contenders.
Squad numbers: 1 Bevan French, 2 Jake Bibby, 3 Zak Hardaker, 4 Iain Thornley, 5 Liam Marshall, 6 Cade Cust, 7 Thomas Leuluai, 8 Brad Singleton, 9 Sam Powell, 10 Patrick Mago, 11 Willie Isa, 12 Liam Farrell, 13 John Bateman, 14 Morgan Smithies, 15 Kaide Ellis, 16 Harry Smith, 17 Oliver Partington, 19 Ethan Havard, 20 Liam Byrne, 21 Kai Pearce-Paul, 22 Joe Shorrocks, 23 Jai Field, 24 Abbas Miski, 25 Sam Halsall, 26 James McDonnell, 27 Umyla Hanley, 28 Brad O’Neill, 29 Alex Sutton, 30 Matty Nicholson, 31 Ramon Silva
Ins: Cade Cust (Manly Sea Eagles), Kaide Ellis (St George Illawarra Dragons), Patrick Mago (South Sydney Rabbitohs), Abbas Miski (London Broncos), Ramon Silva (London Broncos), Iain Thornley (Leigh Centurions)
Outs: Amir Bourouh (Salford Red Devils), Joe Bullock (Warrington Wolves), Mitch Clark (Newcastle Thunder), Tony Clubb (retired), Oliver Gildart (Wests Tigers), Jackson Hastings (Wests Tigers), Dom Manfredi (retired), Matty Nicholson (Newcastle Thunder – season loan), Alex Sutton (Newcastle Thunder – season loan)
Coaching team
Head Coach: Matt Peet
Assistant Coach: Lee Briers
Assistant Coach: Sean O’Loughlin
Head of Performance: Ian Bentley
Welfare Manager: Tom Fitzpatrick
Head of Youth: Darrell Goulding
Head of Analysis: Jack Phillips
Nutritionist: Darren Marsh
Head of Physiotherapy: Jack Stopford
Assistant Physiotherapist: Tom Huane
First Team Masseur: Emma Schultz
Academy Head Coach and Scholarship Manager: Shane Eccles
Academy Assistant Coach: Danny Fullerton
Director of Medical: Professor Chris Brookes
Academy Strength & Conditioning Coach: Mick Turner
Club Doctor: Dr Angela Coumbarides
Club management
Chairman: Ian Lenagan
Executive Director: Kris Radlinski
Leadership and Management Director: Shaun Wane
Finance Director: David Moore
Projects Director: Wayne Joyce
Sales Director: Geoff Warburton
Financial Controller: Martin Smith
Head of HR & Administration: Carol Madden
Head of Marketing: Michelle Byrne
Head of Media & Production: Stewart Frodsham
Media and Communications Executive: Alastair Hancock
Club Colours
Home shirt: Cherry and White hoops
Away shirt: Navy and royal blue hoops
Third shirt: Pink shirt with a black trim
Betfred odds to win the Grand Final: 13/2
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