Wigan Warriors have confirmed that centre Jake Wardle has been ruled out for a significant chunk of the season.
Wardle started Wigan’s opening round clash against Castleford Tigers on Sunday afternoon but he picked up a knee injury in the game and will be expected to miss around 10-12 weeks of action.
The centre has an MCL issue and will have to go under the knife to resolve it, which is a blow to Matt Peet and the Cherry and Whites, who picked up the 26-16 win at Wheldon Road on Sunday afternoon.
As such, given the 10-12 week timeline given by the Warriors, Wardle will be looking at a return to action around late April or May, meaning he will not only miss this weekend’s game against Hull FC, but he’ll miss key fixtures against the likes of St Helens, Warrington Wolves and Leigh Leopards, too.
However, all being well, he could be back in time to face against last season’s treble winners Hull KR on May 21.
Wardle is in his fourth season with Wigan having joined the club from Huddersfield Giants ahead of the 2023 campaign. In that time he scored 49 tries in 95 appearances and that includes the four he has scored this year having bagged a hat-trick in the Challenge Cup against Rochdale Hornets before his effort on Sunday.
Wigan do have outside back options with Dayon Sambou able to come in for a debut, having made the move from St Helens in the off-season, while Liam Farrell and Zach Eckersley can also play the role. However, for the latter to become a centre option, Wigan would need Abbas Miski to be fit enough to step onto the wing.
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