Former Wigan Warriors star claims Super League players “have no respect for the ball”

Former Wigan Warriors star Matty Bowen has spoken about the difference between the NRL and Super League.

Bowen was a veteran in the NRL with North Queensland Cowboys and played in the 2005 Grand Final against Wests Tigers.

He was desperate to win a Grand Final but sadly ended his career with three Grand Final defeats to his name.

Two of those came in Super League. In 2014, after signing for the club the previous winter, he lost the Grand Final to St Helens with the Wigan Warriors as they were forced to play with 12 men for long periods.

Then in 2015, Bowen was on the wrong end of history as Leeds won the treble to send their legendary players out on a high as the retiring Bowen saw his chances to end his career as a champion go up in smoke.

Bowen scored a sensational try in that Grand Final as well but despite the fact it gave Wigan an 18-16 lead they went on to lose 22-20.

Now Bowen has said on the Cast Patrol podcast that the difference between Super League and NRL is a lack of respect for the ball:

“In Super League, you speak to the boys, you speak to the players and coaches, they hate watching the NRL because it’s boring, they were saying, it’s more physical over here and over there they just love to throw the ball around and just play off the cuff stuff.

“They sort of love that stuff. Over here, it’s more about field position, physicality and looking after the ball, over there, they have no respect for the ball, it was good fun, there are four to six teams who are good and fortunately I was able to play in the Wigan set up.”

Matty Bowen joined Wigan in 2014 as a replacement for the departing full-back Sam Tomkins.

The Australian went on to play for the Warriors in the 2014 World Club Challenge down under against Sydney Roosters, as well as the 2014 and 2015 Super League Grand Finals.

He finished his Wigan career at the end of 2015 with a total of 47 appearances, 24 tries and 31 goals.

Ironically, Tomkins would then replace Bowen as he returned in 2016 after Bowen’s retirement at the end of the 2015 campaign.

Tomkins would then spend the next three years at Tomkins before leaving the club to join Catalans Dragons where he eventually retired in 2023.