{"id":197033,"date":"2025-10-13T12:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/197033\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T12:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T12:27:11","slug":"former-wigan-warriors-man-makes-rugby-league-return-to-sign-with-championship-club","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/197033\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Wigan Warriors man makes rugby league return to sign with Championship club"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1760358430_74_OH_6614.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"League 1 side ground for Rochdale Hornets as Super League quartet join club on loan\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>An ex-Wigan Warriors player has made his rugby league return after over two years out of the game, and has signed with one of the Championship\u2019s newest clubs.<\/p>\n<p>Rochdale Hornets will form part of the second division next year, as the Championship and League One clubs merge together to form one combined competition below Super League.<\/p>\n<p>After already making a number of signings for next year, including Warriors\u2019 academy talent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league-news-wigan-warriors-youngsters-completes-permanent-move-to-championship-new-boys-following-successful-loan-109194\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dylan Kelly-Duffy<\/a> and former Salford Red Devils man Junior Sa\u2019u, the Hornets have now announced another player that will link up with their squad for 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Making his return to professional rugby league for the first time since 2023, former Wigan hooker Luke Waterworth re-joins the sport for the first time in almost three years.<\/p>\n<p>A product of the Warriors\u2019 youth system, Waterworth made his senior debut in 2016 \u2013 a 30-16 victory over Hull KR. He later moved to Swinton Lions, and became a mainstay there, before calling it quits in April 2023 and retiring from the game,<\/p>\n<p>Now, he has decided to come back to the 13-man game, and has signed a deal with the Hornets for 2026.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Former Wigan Warriors man \u201cfound my love rugby again\u201d after securing Championship deal<\/p>\n<p>Speaking on his return to the sport, and on his move to the Hornets, Waterworth can\u2019t wait to get back into the groove of playing rugby league again.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t be more excited to be signing for Rochdale Hornets,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cAfter speaking with Andy Mazey and Gary Thornton, I knew I wanted to be part of the club\u2019s vision and I can\u2019t wait to contribute by working hard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a few years away from the game, but I\u2019ve found my love for rugby again and I\u2019m excited to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/86PEmyarFog?si=Ln5Z8V7doIyNL5fn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Welcome to Rochdale, Luke Waterworth \u270d\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>We are excited to announce the signing of the 29-year-old hooker on a one-year deal.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcf0: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/w7bEr2UHu6\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/w7bEr2UHu6<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EtPdrJ4NDi\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/EtPdrJ4NDi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Rochdale Hornets (@RochdaleHornets) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RochdaleHornets\/status\/1975833841848730073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">October 8, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1759084633_634_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An ex-Wigan Warriors player has made his rugby league return after over two years out of the game,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-197033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}