{"id":316293,"date":"2025-12-14T23:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T23:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/316293\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T23:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T23:02:11","slug":"how-wigan-warriors-could-line-up-in-round-one-of-super-league-after-huge-reported-injury-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/316293\/","title":{"rendered":"How Wigan Warriors could line-up in round one of Super League after huge reported injury blow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Wigan\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

Wigan Warriors have reportedly been dealt a huge injury blow during the first few weeks of their pre-season training programme.<\/p>\n

The Warriors will be looking to bounce back from October\u2019s Super League Grand Final defeat in 2026 but it seems as though they will have to spend the campaign without their star off-season recruit.<\/p>\n

According to All Out Rugby League, Oliver Wilson, who has joined from Huddersfield Giants, injured his Achilles in training and looks set for a lengthy lay-off. Nothing official has come out of the Brick Community Stadium just yet, but if the injury is as bad as has been reported, the Warriors will be looking for salary cap dispensation and potentially another player to take Wilson\u2019s spot in the side.<\/a><\/p>\n

However, while we wait for clarity to emerge, we\u2019ve taken a look at how Wigan<\/a> could line up with their current crop of players.<\/p>\n

How Wigan Warriors could look in round one<\/p>\n

Well, before we get onto the pack, let\u2019s just briefly touch on a backline that looks set to look unchanged heading into 2026. Jai Field will play at full-back once more, with Abbas Miski, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle and Liam Marshall in the outside backs and Bevan French and Harry Smith in the halves.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s stating the obvious to the say the least, with Zach Eckersley the man who seemingly the closest to disrupting that back line up, with the 22-year-old eyeing more game time in 2026.<\/p>\n

Onto the pack then, and with Wilson sidelined, the most likely starting prop pairing looks to be Luke Thompson and Ethan Havard. The two England internationals have spots in the World Cup squad to play for next year and they\u2019ll pushing to hit top form once more.<\/p>\n

However, Wilson\u2019s injury, coupled with the off-season exits of Harvie Hill, Liam Bryne and Tyler Dupree, does appear to leave Wigan short of established depth beneath the above pairing. Patrick Mago will be involved, of course, while Sam Walters might just be used as a full-time middle, rather than in the back-row.<\/p>\n

Walters spent last season split between the two roles with his size and strength making him a decent prop option. Sam Eseh has returned from his loan at Hull and he\u2019ll be keen to push on and finally become a Wigan regular, too.<\/p>\n

With the versatility Walters offers, you\u2019d think all three of those names could be used off the bench.<\/p>\n

Kaide Ellis provides a prop option but to play him there would mean moving him from loose-forward. However, a solution on that front could see hooker Brad O\u2019Neill moved to 13 with Kruise Leeming and Tom Forber able to share the nine role.<\/p>\n

Tiaki Chan and Kian McDermott seem to be the only other obvious prop options at Matt Peet\u2019s disposal.<\/p>\n

Veteran Liam Farrell is still performing, with Junior Nsemba set to take the second-row spot on the other side and Ellis likely to play at loose-forward.<\/p>\n

Wigan fans can expect to get a glimpse of George Hirst and Taylor Kerr this season, with a number of those fringe and young players set to be called upon.<\/p>\n

Predicted Wigan Warriors line-up: Jai Field; Abbas Miski, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall; Bevan French, Harry Smith; Luke Thompson, Brad O\u2019Neill, Ethan Havard; Liam Farrell, Junior Nsemba; Kaide Ellis.<\/p>\n

Bench: Sam Walters, Patrick Mago, Sam Eseh, Kruise Leeming.<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors have reportedly been dealt a huge injury blow during the first few weeks of their pre-season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-316293","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\/316293","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=316293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}