Welcome to the first pre-Match alternative look at Wigan Warriors' fixtures. Hopefully this will evolve and improve week on week but the main aim is to provide a bit of match info between Wigan and (in this case) Leigh Leopards, some statistics, trivia, and general Rugby League chat. I will try a few things out, layouts etc, see what works or doesn't but please fell free to share this as my only outlet on social media is BlueSky.

So apologies for this first attempt, I just find other pre match media stuff quite crap and lazy. Judge this I guess. I will give my views, or take on things, so treat this as sort of a blog.

The 2025 Season kicks off just before Valentines Day and no love is lost on the terraces between the supporters of Wigan Warriors and the Leigh Leopards. It's been a long wait during the off-season coming to this moment. Wigan head into the new season holding five trophies: World Club Challenge, Super League Champions, Challenge Cup, League Leaders and of course the Locker Cup after our previous victory over Warrington.

There will be a new trophy on offer between Leigh and Wigan, played for every time the two clubs meet. The main points coming out of the media spiel is that this trophy will be focused around the Community. One Borough and all that.

Last week, Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards (along with Wigan Athletic and others) came together at The Edge, brought together by Wigan Council. The goal was to inspire the next generation of sportsmen and women in the Borough. Mike Danson, Kris Radlinski, Bevan French, Junior N'Semba, Adrian Lam, Derek Beaumont and Lachlan Lam, to name others (like Shaun Wane and Brian Carney) hosted hundreds of school children from within Wigan and Leigh, giving talks and workshops and how to succeed in life through sport.

My daughter was lucky enough to go, representing her school in Atherton. She didn't say much about inspiration but the fact that she got to listen to her idols like Junior and Bevan, and get photos and signatures on her new jersey and have a photo with Derek Beaumont (who signed her Wigan shirt) made sure that she came home with a beaming smile.

But now for the match against Leigh Leopards. Going to Press, over 20,000 tickets have been sold or given away as freebies. The entertainment is in place in the form of The Lathums. The Leigh Leopards have done well in their pre-match hype video which shows Chairman, general all-round Rugby League Guru, and good egg, Mike Latham preparing to entertain on Thursday evening having been booked for the match entertainment, He is flanked by members of The Lottery Winners and is tyring to learn the guitar until Derek Beaumont mentions that The LathUms and not The LathAms have been booked. It's good and clever, in my view, it's one of them that you have to see.

Thursday evening's fixture will be the 225th* meeting between Wigan and Leigh in the Northern Union era (after 1895). The stats are favoured heavily in Wigan's favour, as you would expect, having won 159 times (70.98%), lost 54 times (24.1%) and drawn on 11 occasions (4.9%).

I have ran out of time for this pre-match digest of Leigh Leopards to do my "Johnny Ring scored 50 tries..." stats so it's basic this week.

Only St Helens (366), Warrington (328), Salford (284) and Leeds (275) have played against Wigan on more occasions than Leigh.

Ancient & Loyal Predictor

So, for the 225th competitive meeting between these clubs, it looks like it should be a tight game. Wigan will have their eyes set on Las Vegas because you don't want to miss out on an opportunity like that. Leigh have had a good pre-season and will be smarting from their defeats at the latter stages of 2024. With the Lobby Gobblers behind them, the opening exchanges will be hostile. A knock on by Jai Field, and we will know about it.

I expect Wigan will eventually wear down Leigh in the pack. We know what we are doing in that sense. The breakthrough will come via a missed tackle or piece of magic from either Harry Smith or Bevan French to unlock the defence. A slight lead for Wigan at half time will do. So too will a comfortable 4-try second half victory.

Key Player: 

WIGAN: JAKE WARDLE

LEIGH: LACHLAN LAM

WIGAN BY 12