Wigan Warriors

Wigan Warriors’ winning mentality underlined as key man outlines pre-season purpose

by
Will Jackson
December 8, 2024

Wigan Warriors man Kruise Leeming admits he has been ‘itching’ to return to the club for pre-season training. The hooker played a key role in Matt Peet’s quadruple-winning side last season, with his campaign coming to an end in October at Old Trafford.

Leeming wasn’t involved on the international stage in the autumn, but he was asked to make the trip to Las Vegas to take in the sights ahead of Wigan’s clash against Warrington Wolves at the Allegiant Stadium in March. And, just a few days after arriving back in England, he returned to Robin Park to begin training ahead of the new Super League season.

The Warriors are the team in every Super League side’s crosshairs heading into 2025 as they look to close the gap and knock the champions off their perch. However, Leeming’s attitude to pre-season is enough to confirm that standards are not about to slip at the Brick Community Stadium, with motivation and enthusiasm remaining high.

“I have been itching to get back in,” Leeming told Wigan TV. “I saw some of the videos that have been put out of the lads training, a little bit envious, I felt left out. It’s been good to get back in.

“You get a chance to work on things that you wasn’t quite happy with last year. You can push it to breaking point because you’ve not got a game coming up so you can actually test and push them boundaries and make improvements.

“Whether it be your fitness, whether it be your knowledge about the game, watching hours and hours of footage, or your strength in the gym, you can actually push and not feel scared of being sore that coming week.

“The thing I like most about it is everyone having that common goal, all your teammates having that common goal and doing a load of hard work, whether it be running hills, wrestle sessions, tough conditioning sessions on the field, and having that camaraderie together where you’re all as one, you all start the season again, there’s no form, there’s no players who have earned their shirt, everyone is fighting for a shirt so the slate is wiped clean.”