Wigan Warriors welcome Abbas Miski back to their starting line-up this evening to take on Leigh Leopards in Super League.
The Cherry and Whites will be looking for an improved performance tonight when they make the short journey to Leigh Sports Village after hitting a relative rough patch in form. Wigan have won two of their last three, but the loss to Wakefield Trinity a fortnight ago was a setback and the club needed last minute tries to overcome both Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers.
As such, Matt Peet will be looking to see his side make strides towards improvement tonight and the return of Miski might go someway towards that. The winger has missed the last two months after undergoing surgery on his knee but he has been named in the 21-man squad and he goes straight into the line-up.
Liam Marshall has also been passed fit to start after struggling over the last couple of weeks. The winger limped out of the loss at Wakefield with a leg issue and was forced to pull out of the warm up last Saturday night against the Tigers after rolling his ankle.
He starts on the left edge though, with Jacob Douglas and Zach Eckersley dropping out. Christian Wade was named in the squad but he must wait for the opportunity to make his debut. Elsewhere, Tyler Dupree and Liam Byrne swap places with the former starting while Byrne moves to the bench.
As expected, there’s no David Armstrong who picked up a knee injury last time out at Leeds Rhinos, meaning Bailey Hodgson starts at full-back. Josh Charnley comes back into the side after talk of him potentially leaving on loan, replacing the injured Darnell McIntosh.
Robbie Mulhern’s injury means Owen Trout steps back into the middle, with Ethan O’Neill returning to the back-row. Alec Tuitavake is named on the bench after serving a ban.
Leigh Leopards v Wigan Warriors teams
Leigh Leopards: Bailey Hodgson; Keanan Brand, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley; Gaz O’Brien, Lachlan Lam; Owen Trout, Edwin Ipape, Joe Ofahengaue; Frankie Halton, Ethan O’Niell, Isaac Liu.
Bench: Jack Hughes, Alec Tuitavake, Matt Davis, Ben McNamara.
Wigan Warriors: Jai Field; Abbas Miski, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall; Jack Farrimond, Harry Smith; Tyler Dupree, Brad O’Neill, Luke Thompson; Junior Nsemba, Liam Farrell, Kaide Ellis.
Bench: Ethan Havard, Patrick Mago, Liam Byrne, Kruise Leeming.
Rugby league fans react to best coach in Super League comment made by Sky Sports pundit
