Wigan Warriors v Leigh Leopards predicted teams with star trio “50/50” to play

Wigan Warriors host Leigh Leopards in the Super League season opener and both head coaches have some major selection headaches.

For Wigan, a number of the headaches come down to the sheer quality and depth that they have with Matt Peet likely to be forced to omit one of the Warriors’ star players.

As for Leigh, they have been hit with injuries during the pre-season with Lam confirming that one player will miss the opening month of the competition when speaking at the Leopards’ presser this week.

Even more worrying for Leigh fans is that Lam described star trio of Robbie Mulhern, Josh Charnley and Edwin Ipape as “50/50” with the head coach noting a few niggles in the squad.

As for Matt Peet, his major loss of late has been Ethan Havard with the starting prop suffering a hamstring injury that will rule him out for an extended period but the depth of Wigan’s pack certainly softens the blow.

Based on the 21-man squads and the injury news to hand, here are out team predictions for tonight’s Super League opener between Wigan Warriors and Leigh Leopards.

Predicted Wigan Warriors team

Wigan XIII: Jai Field, Abbas Miski, Adam Keighran, Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall, Bevan French, Harry Smith, Luke Thompson, Kruise Leeming, Harvie Hill, Junior Nsemba, Liam Farrell, Kaide Ellis

Interchanges: Tom Forber, Patrick Mago, Tyler Dupree, Liam Byrne

Wigan’s back seven pick themselves, particularly now that Jake Wardle and Abbas Miski have returned to the squad and are seemingly at full fitness.

With Brad O’Neill still rehabbing Kruise Leeming starts at nine with young  Tom Forber on the bench to spell in whilst fellow pack players Thompson, Farrell, Nsemba and Ellis pick themselves.

The other starting prop position and the three interchange positions are trickier but one man is almost certain to feature and that’s Patrick Mago – the only man to play in all 27 Super League games last season.

His impact off the bench will be huge, as will that of the other two forwards we’ve predicted in Tyler Dupree and Liam Byrne with Peet sure to try and expose Leigh’s pack after they have lost Tom Amone, Kai O’Donnell and John Asiata.

That means we’ve given Harvie Hill the start with the forward being talked up recently by Matt Peet when Ethan Havard’s injury was revealed. The fourth interchange spot between Byrne and Walters was somewhat of a coin toss but we’ve gone with the bruising prop as opposed to the second-rower.

Predicted Leigh Leopards team

Leigh XIII: David Armstrong, Bailey Hodgson, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley, Gareth O’Brien, Lachlan Lam, Owen Trout, Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern, Frankie Halton, Jack Hughes, Isaac Liu

Interchanges: Brad Dwyer, Aaron Pene, Alec Tuitavake, Ethan O’Neill

There’s a lot more uncertainty with Leigh’s team which is massively changed from 2024. Whilst AJ Towse is a natural winger, throwing him into his Super League debut against Wigan Warriors doesn’t seem that wise so we’ve taken utility back Bailey Hodgson to play on the wing but equally Keanan Brand could get the nod.

All of Mulhern, Charnley and Ipape are named despite their “50/50” status. Lam did provide further details on Ipape when he admitted that “he’s more than likely going to play”.

Any issues will see Brad Dwyer step into the fray with the Super League vet heading up a bench that is full of forwards as Leigh try counter Wigan’s huge pack.

Tonight’s game can be watched live on Sky Sports with details available here.