2025 Wigan Warriors season

Wigan Warriors 2025 season
2025 record	Wins: 1; draws: 0; losses: 1
Points scored	For: 0; against: 1
Team information
CEO	Kris Radlinski
Head Coach	Matt Peet
Captain	Liam Farrell
Stadium	Brick Community Stadium
Agg. attendance	21,748
High attendance	21,748
Home colours Away colours
←  2024 List of seasons 2026  →

The 2025 season will be the Wigan Warriors's 45th consecutive season playing in England's top division of rugby league. They will compete in the 2025 Super League season and the 2025 Challenge Cup. Under ordinary circumstances, they would also have contest the 2025 World Club Challenge.

Preseason friendlies

Date and Time	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	Report
19 January; 15:00	Oldham Roughyeds	A	Boundary Park	W	28–16	Dupree, Douglas, Byrne, Forber, Cartwright, Yeomans	Eckersley (2/6)	3,028	[1]
26 January; 15:00	Leeds Rhinos	A	Headingley	L	4–22	Eckersley	Keighran (0/1)	5,055	[2]

World Club Challenge

Ahead of the 2024 NRL Grand Final, reports began circulating that the 2025 World Club Challenge would be at risk of being cancelled as teams that could potentially qualify (Penrith Panthers, Warrington Wolves, and Wigan Warriors) would have difficulty arranging travel to either the UK or Australia, then to the United States, with the usual date of the tournament being close to that of the 2025 Rugby League Las Vegas event. ^[3] Following Penrith's victory in the Grand Final, thus qualification for the tournament, it was revealed that 15 or 16 February would be the latest they would play the tournament, leaving time for travel back to Australia then out to the United States, while also maximising their pre-season, citing player welfare as in issue. However, with this weekend being the opening weekend of the 2025 Super League season, the date was unlikely. ^[4]

On 9 October 2024, Penrith confirmed to the NRL that they would not play the match before the start of the domestic seasons citing player welfare as the issue stating that their players were delaying their mandated leave to play in the 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships and 2024 Samoa rugby league tour of England thus not allowing players to have an adequate preseason before the World Club Challenge. The club stated that it was open to working with the NRL for a solution to play the match, but would not as things stand currently. ^[5]

Following the conclusion of the 2024 Super League Grand Final, Wigan Warriors captain Liam Farrell confirmed the champions' commitment to the 2025 World Club Challenge and stated that the club would be working to ensure the game goes ahead. ^[6] These words later confirmed by CEO Kris Radlinski. ^[7]

On 16 October, Radlinski contacted the NRL and Penrith about playing the game during Magic Round (requiring the NRL to schedule one of Penrith's byes for this round), ^[8] an idea proposed on social media by Penrith's Nathan Cleary two days prior. ^[9] However this idea never came to fruition with Penrith facing Brisbane in Magic Round. ^{[10] [11]}

Date and Time	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	TV	Report
Not scheduled	Penrith Panthers	A [a]	Western Sydney Stadium [b]	Cancelled	N/A

Wigan remain world champions by virtue of their victory in the competition in 2024, however did not receive a separate title for 2025 in lieu of Penrith's withdrawal.

Super League

Main article: 2025 Super League season

On 9 July 2024, the club announced they would be part of the 2025 Rugby League Las Vegas event, playing their home match against Warrington Wolves at the Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. ^{[12] [13]} Wigan's matchweek 1, 2, and rival Round fixtures were confirmed on 20 November 2024, ^[14] with the rest coming the following day. ^[15] Wigan's opening round match set a record for the highest attendanced opening game of Super League, it also is the only game to have ended 0-0 after 80 minutes in the summer ^[16]

Date and Time	Round	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	TV	Pos.	Report
13 February; 20:00	Round 1	Leigh Leopards	H	Brick Community Stadium	L	0–1 ( g.p. )			21,748	Sky Sports Action	8th	[17]
21 February; 20:00	Round 2	Hull F.C.	A	MKM Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
1 March, 21:30 (GMT)	Round 3 (Rugby League Las Vegas)	Warrington Wolves	N	Allegiant Stadium		–				Sky Sports Main Event
9 March; 13:00	Round 4	Huddersfield Giants	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
22 March; 17:30	Round 5	Leeds Rhinos	A	Headingley		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
30 March; 15:00	Round 6	Salford Red Devils	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				BBC Sport
11 April; 20:00	Round 7	Hull KR	A	Craven Park		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
18 April; 15:00	Round 8 (Good Friday; Rivals Round)	St Helens	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
27 April; 15:00	Round 9	Hull F.C.	A	MKM Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
4 May; 15:15	Round 10 (Magic Weekend)	Warrington Wolves	N	St James' Park		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
16 May; 20:00	Round 11	Leigh Leopards	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
24 May; 17:30 (BST)	Round 12	Catalans Dragons	A	Stade Gilbert Brutus		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
30 May, 20:00	Round 13	Salford Red Devils	A	Salford Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
14 June; 15:00	Round 14	Huddersfield Giants	N [c]	TBD		–				Sky Sports+
20 June; 20:00	Round 15	Wakefield Trinity	A	Belle Vue		–				Sky Sports+
28 June; 20:00	Round 16	Castleford Tigers	A	Wheldon Road		–				Sky Sports+
4 July; 20:00	Round 17	Leigh Leopards	A	Leigh Sports Village		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
11 July; 20:00	Round 18	Huddersfield Giants	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
19 July; 15:00	Round 19	Hull F.C.	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
25 July, 20:00	Round 20	Catalans Dragons	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
8 August; 20:00	Round 21	Warrington Wolves	A	Halliwell Jones Stadium		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
15 August; 20:00	Round 22	Hull KR	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
24 August, 15:00	Round 23	Wakefield Trinity	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
30 August; 20:00 (BST)	Round 24	Catalans Dragons	A	Stade Gilbert Brutus		–				Sky Sports+
4 September; 20:00	Round 25	St Helens	A	Totally Wicked Stadium		–				Sky Sports Exclusive
12 September; 20:00	Round 26	Castleford Tigers	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports+
19 September; 20:00	Round 27	Leeds Rhinos	H	Brick Community Stadium		–				Sky Sports TBD

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	St Helens	1	1	0	0	82	0	+82	2	Advance to Semi-finals
2	Hull FC	1	1	0	0	24	4	+20	2
3	Warrington Wolves	1	1	0	0	20	12	+8	2	Advance to Eliminators
4	Wakefield Trinity	1	1	0	0	14	12	+2	2
5	Hull KR	1	1	0	0	19	18	+1	2
6	Leigh Leopards	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	2
7	Castleford Tigers	1	0	0	1	18	19	−1	0
8	Wigan Warriors	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	0
9	Leeds Rhinos	1	0	0	1	12	14	−2	0
10	Huddersfield Giants	1	0	0	1	12	20	−8	0
11	Catalans Dragons	1	0	0	1	4	24	−20	0
12	Salford Red Devils	1	0	0	1	0	82	−82	0

Updated to match(es) played on 16 February 2025. Source:

Challenge Cup

Main article: 2025 Challenge Cup

On 25 June 2024, the RFL announced a change to the Challenge Cup format totalling 7 rounds compared to the previous 9, and Super League teams entering at round 3. ^[19] Wigan were drawn away to Sheffield Eagles on 14 January 2025. ^[20]

Date and time	Round	Versus	H/A	Venue	Result	Score	Tries	Goals	Attendance	TV	Report
7 February; 19:30	Round 3	Sheffield Eagles	A	Olympic Legacy Park	W	48–12	Field, French, Byrne, Eckersley, Walters, Keighran, Nsemba, Ellis	Keighran (8/8)	1,244	Not Televised	[21]
15 March: 17:45	Round 4	Hull F.C.	H	Brick Community Stadium						BBC Sport

Transfers

Gains

Player	Club	Contract	Date
George Hirst	Oldham Roughyeds	2 years + 1 year	October 2024 [22]

Losses

Player	Club	Contract	Date
Mike Cooper	Retired on medical advice		September 2024 [23]
Ryan Hampshire	Free Agent		October 2024 [24]
George Hirst	Oldham	1 Year Loan	October 2024 [25]
Ryan Brown	Leigh Leopards	2 Years	October 2024 [26]
Reagan Sumner	Widnes Vikings	1 Year	November 2024 [27]
Willie Isa	Retired		January 2025 [28]
Tiaki Chan	Salford Red Devils	1 Year Loan	January 2025 [29]

Squad

2025 Wigan Warriors Squad

First team squad								Coaching staff
1 Jai Field – FB, SO 2 Abbas Miski – WG 3 Adam Keighran – CE, SO, HK 4 Jake Wardle – CE, WG 5 Liam Marshall – WG 6 Bevan French – SO, FB, WG 7 Harry Smith (gk) – SH, SO 8 Ethan Havard – PR 9 Brad O'Neill – HK, LF 10 Luke Thompson – PR, LF 11 Junior Nsemba – LF, SR 12 Liam Farrell (c) – SR, LF 13 Kaide Ellis – PR, LF		15 Patrick Mago – PR 16 Liam Byrne – PR 17 Kruise Leeming – HK 19 Tyler Dupree – PR 20 Harvie Hill – PR 21 Sam Walters – SR 22 Zach Eckersley – CE 23 Tom Forber – HK 24 Jack Farrimond – SH 25 Sam Eseh – PR 26 Jacob Douglas – WG		27 Harvey Makin – PR 29 Taylor Kerr 30 Nathan Lowe 31 Lukas Mason 32 Noah Hookinson 33 Kian McDermott				Head coach Matt Peet Assistant coaches Thomas Leuluai Sean O’Loughlin Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) (gk) = Goal kicker Updated: 27 November 2024 Source(s): 2025 Squad Numbers

Notes

1. The match was never officially scheduled however 2025 would have been the NRL Champion's turn to host.
2. Penrith played the 2025 season at the Western Sydney Stadium with their home ground, Penrith Stadium, undergoing redevelopment.
3. Huddersfield schedule home match against Wigan will be held at an alternative venue due to Huddersfield's home ground, the Kirklees Stadium, being pre booked on the day of the match. ^[18]

References

1. "Warriors beat Oldham in pre-season". Wigan Warriors. 19 January 2025. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
2. "Warriors lose to Leeds in pre-season". Wigan Warriors. 26 January 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
3. "World Club Challenge update: identity of Super League, NRL winners key". Love Rugby League. 30 September 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
4. "World Club Challenge date and location update after Penrith Panthers win". Love Rugby League. 6 October 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
5. "'Only thing that's missing': Penrith co-captain disappointed to abandon World Club Challenge | NRL | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
6. "Now one of rugby league's greatest sides, what next for Wigan Warriors? | Super League | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
7. "Wigan Warriors still open to World Club Challenge rematch with conversations to take place, says Radlinski" . Retrieved 14 November 2024.
8. "Wigan Warriors chief Kris Radlinski open to Nathan Cleary's World Club Challenge proposal for 2025" . Retrieved 14 November 2024.
9. "Nathan Cleary: Wigan Warriors chief Kris Radlinski says every Super League club would try to sign NRL star if he considered move" . Retrieved 14 November 2024.
10. https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/wigan-warriors-chairman-remains-upbeat-despite-world-club-challenge-blow-and-still-4877555
11. https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby-league/world-club-challenge-cancellation-a-blow-to-calendar-with-wigan-warriors-2025-fixtures-incoming-4875989
12. "Super League in Las Vegas: Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves set for showdown at Allegiant Stadium in 2025". Sky Sports . 9 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
13. "Wigan Warriors to play Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas in 2025". BBC Sport . 9 July 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
14. "Super League 2025: Fixtures for rounds one, two and Rivals Round revealed ahead of new season". Sky Sports . 20 November 2024. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
15. "Super League 2025: Full fixture list and schedule for new season including Wigan vs Warrington in Las Vegas". Sky Sports . 21 November 2024. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
16. [era.https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/matt-peets-classy-words-on-leigh-leopards-following-opening-night-defeat "Matt Peet's classy words on Leigh Leopards following opening night defeat"]. loverugbyleague.com. 14 February 2025. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
17. "Warriors lose in Golden Point to the Leopards". Wigan Warriors. 26 January 2025. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
18. https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post/super-league-club-forced-to-find-alternative-home-venue-with-change-explained
19. "New format for Betfred Challenge Cup in 2025". Rugby Football League . 25 June 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
20. "Holders Wigan face possible Sheffield tie in cup". BBC Sport . 14 January 2025. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
21. "Warriors progress in Cup with win over Eagles". Wigan Warriors. 7 February 2025. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
22. McAllister, Josh (9 October 2024). "Wigan Warriors confirm first signing of 2025 with young gun from Sean Long's Oldham". Wigan Today. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
23. Fletcher, Charlotte (27 September 2024). "Mike Cooper to retire". Wigan Warriors. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
24. "Hampshire to leave Wigan as Isa extends stay". BBC Sport. 4 October 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
25. "Oldham and Wigan agree Hirst deal". Oldham. 9 October 2024. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
26. Darbyshire, Drew (14 October 2024). "Leigh Leopards sign England Academy prop from Wigan Warriors". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
27. Darbyshire, Drew (2 November 2024). "Wigan Warriors youngster makes permanent Championship transfer move following loan spells". Love Rugby League. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
28. "Willie Isa to leave". Wigan Warriors. 23 January 2025.
29. "Chan joins Salford on loan". Wigan Warriors. 31 January 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2025.