Wigan Warriors have confirmed another pre-season friendly with tge match set to serve as their first game of 2026.
Matt Peet’s side will be looking to get back on top in 2026 after failing to pick up any silverware in 2025, despite having won an impressive four trophies the year prior.
Hull KR defeated them in the Grand Final whilst also edging them out in the race for the League Leaders Shield but it was Hull FC who knocked the Warriors out of the Challenge Cup, beating Wigan after trailing heavily at half time.
Wigan’s first competitive game of 2026 will be in the Challenge Cup third round but they will play at least two matches before then with Liam Marshall’s testimonial against Hull FC previously confirmed, and now a friendly against last year’s League One champions and new Championship outfit North Wales Crusaders.
2026 pre-season friendly tracker
Wigan Warriors book in first game of 2026
Wigan will make the trip to Colwyn Bay in early January, announcing their friendly against North Wales for Saturday, 10th January.
It will be the side’s first game of pre-season and comes three weeks ahead of the clash against Hull FC at the Brick Community Stadium for winger Liam Marshall’s testimonial.
That leaves plenty of time between games where a third pre-season match could potentially be arranged for Matt Peet’s side.
Speaking on the announcement of North Wales for their opening game of 2026, Matt Peet said: “We look forward to visiting Wales in our first hit out of the year. It will provide us a great opportunity to progress our preparation for the season ahead.”
Earlier in the day, Huddersfield Giants had announced York Knights as their opponents for Matty English’s testimonial on January 17th with more and more pre-season fixtures set to be announced thick and fast in the lead up to Christmas.
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🏉 Wigan Warriors are delighted to announce that the Club will send a team to take on @NWCrusadersRL in a pre-season friendly ahead of the new 2026 Betfred Super League campaign. ⬇️ #WWRLhttps://t.co/5bsq39psIp
— Wigan Warriors 🍒⚪️ (@WiganWarriorsRL) December 1, 2025
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