Wigan Warriors capped off their incredible season with a convincing 64-0 victory over Salford Red Devils to lift the League Leaders Shield.
Matt Peet’s side was priced as short as 1/500 after the Salford squad was confirmed with Paul Rowley opting for the preservation of his stars. That saw him make 17 changes to his 21-man squad from last week with his matchday squad featuring eight debutants.
Speaking pre-match on Sky Sports, Rowley reasoned: “This is what is best for Salford Red Devils. I hate coming here and not competing with my best team but I’ve got to do what’s right for my team and the right thing to do for my team is have a fully functioning, fit team when it gets to knock out stage.”
His side featured a mixture of veterans who had been left by the wayside throughout the season, including 36-year-old Adam Sidlow who made his first Super League appearance of the season but his 150th in his career after spending all year on loan with League One Oldham.
Alongside Sidlow were eight debutants who went up against the might of a Wigan Warriors side featuring Man of Steel Bevan French, Super League’s leading try-scorer Liam Marshall and Young Player of the Year-elect Junior Nsemba.
It was therefore to nobody’s surprise that the game played out as it did with Wigan Warriors running out as 64-0 winners to become just the second time to win back-to-back League Leaders Shield trophies.
Wigan Warriors lift League Leaders Shield
Credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
It didn’t take Wigan Warriors long to get on the board and it was that man again as Liam Marshall scored his 26th try of the Super League campaign. Adam Keighran added the extras and he was called into action soon after when Jai Field danced through on the opposite side of the field.
French would then strike next as Zach Eckersley carved open Salford before teeing up his stand-off for a walkover try. Less than five minutes later it was Eckersley’s turn to dive over as Wigan capitalised on a scrum play in good territory to make it 22-0 after 22 minutes.
An error from Harry Smith on the restart gave Salford back-to-back sets in Wigan territory but a stray Cade Cust pass was scooped up by Jake Wardle who ran 60 metres to score his ninth of the season.
It took just two minutes for Wigan to get on the board after the break and it came through full-back Jai Field who exposed a huge gap in the Salford line as he scored his second of the night.
Field would then offload metres shy of the line and throw a forward pass to Harry Smith in two ‘bombed’ opportunities as Wigan kept piling the pressure on Salford. Minutes later, Tyler Dupree would then bomb a three-on-one as the Warriors failed to punish the visitors.
Liam Marshall would score his second of the game just before the hour mark as he scooped up a stray ball and sprinted 90 metres to score his 27th of the campaign. Minutes later Kruise Leeming scored his fourth of the season to make it 46-0.
Leeming then doubled up to take the score past 50 before a Junior Nsemba break was backed up by Jai Field who scored his third. The evening was rounded off with a Bevan French score to take the game to 64-0 and secure the League Leaders Shield.
⏱ 𝙁𝙐𝙇𝙇 𝙏𝙄𝙈𝙀 with @heatableUK
THE WARRIORS SECURE THE 2024 LEAGUE LEADERS’ SHIELD!#WWRL #SLWIGSAL pic.twitter.com/v7nXO6DQpA
— Wigan Warriors 🍒⚪️ (@WiganWarriorsRL) September 19, 2024
