Wigan Warriors won’t underestimate Challenge Cup opponents, insists Kruise Leeming: ‘It would be stupid’

Like Matt Peet’s Wigan, the Championship outfit remain unbeaten in 2024 including their 1895 Cup campaign and their season opening win over Toulouse Olympique, while they have also defeated Newcastle Thunder, York Knights and Swinton Lions to reach the sixth round of the prestigious Challenge Cup competition.

Head coach Peet has named his strongest 21-man squad available for Friday’s clash, including a return for 28-year-old Leeming who has not played since the World Club Challenge showdown.

And the hooker admits it would be ‘stupid’ to look beyond Mark Aston’s Eagles, with also the opportunity to grow Wigan’s combinations and cohesion ahead of the mouth-watering Good Friday clash.

“It would be a stupid thing not to give Sheffield the respect,” Leeming said.

“We’ve seen it happen loads of times in the Challenge Cup on the day, it’s a knockout competition. For us to go with a weakened side and lose, it would be an absolute disaster.

“We wouldn’t want that to happen. There’s a lot of other factors as well. We’re early on in the season, people are still finding their form with the more games they play.

“We’ve got a big couple of games coming up in Super League as well. Personally, looking from a performance side, you want to be playing and playing well, not stop-starting and in and out of teams.

“We’ll just try and focus on our jobs and get to that routine of winning, but it is a big occasion.”

Leeming will face some of his former Huddersfield Giants team-mates at the DW Stadium on Friday, including veteran of the game, Aaron Murphy.

“Murphy is one of my good friends, he looked after me when I was coming through at Huddersfield and we’ve kept in touch since,” Leeming explained.

“He’s been a really good player across his career.

“Sheffield will come to our home to play against the champions, and what an occasion it’ll be.

“They’ll be pumped up and ready to go.

"We’re definitely not taking Sheffield lightly. With the squad we’ve named, it’s not a warm-up game or a friendly, it's going to be a really tough game.”