Wigan Warriors vs Leeds Rhinos preview

After a heartbreaking loss to Warrington Wolves in round 1, Leeds now face their first away trip of the season when they face Wigan Warriors at the DW stadium. Coming off the back of a fourth place finish last season Wigan started their campaign under new coach Matt Peet with a comfortable 24-10 win over Hull KR.

 

Leeds met Wigan Warriors three times in the 2021 Super league season with Leeds edging the games 2-1. Jackson Hastings starred in the first game and was able to repeatedly penetrate the soft underbelly of the Leeds defence, scoring one try himself as well as getting two try assists in a 19-6 win for the cherry and whites.

 

However, in the final two games between the clubs  the tables turned and the Rhinos were able to keep Wigan scoreless in both games. Winning 14-0 and 8-0 respectively in what were two of the most impressive performances of the season. It will come as no surprise to readers given his 2021 form, Kruise Leeming was the key to Leeds Rhinos winning both games and had a hand in almost all the tries scored. It does have to be said that these games were played during a time where Wigans performance levels in attack dropped off massively and ultimately led to Adrian Lam losing his job for the 2022 season. 

 

Looking back to round 1, Wigan ran out 24-10 winners against Hull KR. In the first half especially Wigan picked up points by capitalising on an error strewn performance from the home team, with Jake Bibby the grateful recipient of a ball spilled by debutant Sam Wood for the games first try.  The team also started to show some attacking flair that was missing at the back end of the 2021 season and shows that Leeds can expect to face a more potent attack than what they faced in the previous meetings. 

Like Warrington, Wigan also played their first game under their new head coach Matt Peet. However, unlike Darryl Powell at Warrington, Peet isn't new to the squad and will have coached many of the current first team squad during his time as head of the Wigan academy setup and assistant coach to Adrian Lam. This will benefit him and the squad greatly as it should reduce the time needed for the new coach to bed in to his first senior role.

 

Matt Peet is able to name a largely unchanged 21 man squad, with the only change being Ian Thornley who misses out after picking up a syndesmosis injury. Given that he has been assigned the number 3 shirt for the season, it is likely that Thornley will be replaced by former Leeds player Zak Hardaker.

 

Although many of the Wigan players will be familiar to travelling Leeds fans there are a couple of new faces to look out for on Friday night. After an injury hit first season, former Parramatta Eels halfback Jai Field returned to the Wigan team and looked dangerous playing in the fullback position. Most notably he was able to chase down a speculative kick from Cade Cust for the cherry and whites second try. Much like Richie Myler he has spent most of his career in the halves but his presence in the backline as an extra half back in attack will mean he will be a constant danger to the Leeds defence. 

 

It was also interesting to see youngster Kai Pearce-Paul line up in the centres in round 1. Typically a second rower, Pearce-Paul forced himself into the first team in the 2021 season and many see him as one of the brightest prospects in the competition. A strong and powerful player he brings the dual threat of being both athletic and the ability to offload late in the tackle,a combination that Leeds will have to be wary of throughout the night.

 

Unlike Matt Peet, Leeds coach Richard Agar has a number of selection decisions to make with 5 players from the starting 17 on Saturday now unavailable. Blake Austin will come into the side to make his competitive debut for the side as well as Corey Johnson who will make his return to Super League after coming out of retirement. There will also have to be a reshuffling on the edge as both starting second rowers and winger David Fusitua are not available. The logical choice is for Tom Briscoe to move out to the wing and Jack Broadbent to make his first appearance in the centres. The two second row berths will be filled by Alex Mellor and also most likely Morgan gannon who will hope to graduate from the bench to a starting spot.

 

So what can we as fans expect from the game? Wigan teams throughout the history of the super league have built their success on the back of a strong defensive unit, and this year should be no different. Even when Leeds managed to keep Wigan scoreless, they were still able to only score three tries across the two games. Therefore, we can expect nothing less than to see a titanic battle between the two forward packs to gain dominance. 

 

Off the back of the work of the forwards, both teams also back line players that are able to rip the game apart at any moment. This will also be the first real test of the relationship Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin have built up over the pre-season and alongside Kruise Leeming at dummy half, they will be the key to success for Leeds in attack. Wigan have shown that they love to play from broken field situations so it will be important that Leeds keep errors to a minimum and don’t give players like Jake Bibby and Liam Marshall a free journey to the line.

 

I think that both teams should look to be more expansive than in previous games after changes of playing and coaching personnel, therefore I think it will be 16-12 to Leeds.

 

Thank you for reading and most importantly remember All Leeds aren’t we.