The 2026 Super League season promises to be a big one for Wigan Warriors as they look to bounce back from their Grand Final defeat.
The Warriors were well beaten by Hull KR at Old Trafford in October and that meant they finished the season empty handed with the treble winning Robins well and truly knocking them off their perch. It wasn’t a poor season for Wigan by any stretch of the imagination, but the Warriors will be putting pressure on themselves to respond and not only challenge, but win silverware once more in 2026.
That will be the main focus going into the campaign and the Warriors and while they haven’t made wholesale changes to their squad, they have added Oliver Wilson from Huddersfield Giants in the hope of getting back on top.
The Warriors also have contracts to address over the next 12 months, with a number of players in the final year of their current deals at the Brick Community Stadium.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the Warriors’ contract state of play.
Wigan Warriors contract expiry dates
2026: Tiaki Chan, Tyler Dupree, George Hirst, Patrick Mago, Sam Eseh
It’s fair to say that decisions on most of these will be made depending on how they start the Super League season. Eyes will be Sam Eseh for example as he looks to break his way into the Warriors’ line up after a successful year spent on loan at Hull FC.
Hull did make a play to take Eseh off Wigan’s hands, but he’ll remain with the Warriors for 2026 and he could have an important role to play. Something similar can be said regarding George Hirst as he prepares himself for his first full season at Wigan after spending last season on loan at Oldham.
Tyler Dupree has joined Toulouse Olympique on loan for the campaign and that puts his future at the club beyond the end of the season into doubt.
The club do have an option to extend Patrick Mago’s deal by another year and given his importance to Matt Peet’s cause, it surely won’t be long before they take a look at that.
2027: Jai Field, Ethan Havard, Kruise Leeming, Harry Smith, Luke Thompson, Liam Farrell, Abbas Miski
The first thing to note here is that the contract Jai Field signed has options for 2028 and 2029, potentially keeping him at the club for another four seasons. Field signed that deal in March, and Wigan probably won’t revisit that for another year at least.
However, it might not be too long before they start to think about extending the likes of Ethan Havard or Harry Smith. Kruise Leeming and Luke Thompson are both 30 now and that will be taken into account before any decision is made, while Abbas Miski has had his injury issues of late.
Liam Farrell will be 37 by the time his deal with the club expires and it seems likely that he’ll be allowed to make his own decision by that point.
2028: Adam Keighran, Zach Eckersley, Bevan French, Liam Marshall
The club will be pleased to have the above quartet tied down long term and all four look set to have big roles to play over the coming years.
2029: Kaide Ellis, Sam Walters, Jake Wardle, Brad O’Neill, Dayon Sambou, Jonny Vaughan, Oliver Wilson.
Sambou, Vaughan and Wilson have all made the move to Wigan for 2026 and the long deal means they can focus on competing at the highest level for the Warriors, while Ellis, Walters, Wardle and O’Neill are all locked in.
2030: Junior Nsemba, Tom Forber
Nsemba and Forber are highly rated at the Brick Community Stadium and they’re contracted for the next five seasons.
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