Kruise Leeming outlines Wigan Warriors' pre-season focus with fitness and mindset on the agenda
Kruise Leeming says improving his fitness, sharpening his tools and learning lessons from last season’s disappointment will shape his approach to pre-season as Wigan Warriors prepare for the 2026 Super League campaign.
The experienced hooker, who is already a high-performing athlete, has identified conditioning and rediscovering his running threat out of dummy half as key areas of improvement heading into the new campaign.
"I think that’s where the game is going, so I want to be as fit as I can, and to just get the combinations working again.
"And for me as a player, to get my running game back out there. I feel towards the backend of the year, I stopped running a little bit, so just to follow what I believe is right for me to do as a player and to get back to where I know I can be as a player as well.”
Leeming has been back in pre-season training with his Wigan teammates for a couple of weeks now, having got engaged to his fiancée, Grace, whilst on holiday in South Africa during the off-season.
The 30-year-old believes the return to pre-season has been driven by renewed motivation across the squad, with Matt Peet’s side looking to get their hands on silverware again after a rare trophyless campaign in 2025.
"It’s great,” Leeming said on being back in pre-season training. “We’re talking about motivation and how you get back on the horse, and defeat or failure is the best way to pick up that motivation and go forward, and to stay disciplined and go and get what you want to get.
"All of us, the young lads have come, and the new recruits have been brilliant, and the competition is back to being back to exactly where it needs to be, and as a person, that’s what I’ve played the game for all my life.
"I love that competitive edge and I want to come in and compete with my mates, then give them a hug and tell them how much I love them afterwards, so the more days we can do that together and the more days we can compete, perform and enjoy it as well, then we’ll get what we want on the back of that.”
With the Warriors going down to defeat to eventual treble winners Hull KR in the Super League Grand Final, the disappointment of how the 2025 campaign ended has left a lasting impression on Leeming, who believes it will serve as a powerful reminder of what they want moving forward.
"I think it’s a lesson that we all have in life, isn’t it? Not taking things for granted,” Leeming explained.
"I think a lot of people, during life, until it gets stripped away or snatched at the final whistle, you take things for granted, and whether that’s through your family or the good periods you have in life, sometimes when you are in those good periods, you forget about how defeat tastes.
"That’s something I’m going to take forward, to try to keep that feeling of the changing rooms after that defeat, to try to keep that in my heart and use that to fuel me going into every training session and every game and getting what I want out of the season.”
With pre-season a long and demanding training period for the players, Leeming is also conscious of the need to stay fresh both mentally and physically as workloads increase, with the Warriors gearing up for the 2026 Super League campaign, which begins with a trip to Castleford Tigers on Sunday, February 15.
"I know for a fact it all goes hand in hand,” Leeming added. “You’ve got to keep mentally fresh by having fun with the lads, that’s where the freshness comes from, it’s coming in, talking about different things, different subjects and educating ourselves.
"For me, the freshness comes from learning more about the game, where I can improve, my fitness, watching different videos around that, studying my own game and thinking, ‘is there anything I’ve not noticed about what I’ve done before or how I play?’ and keeping that freshness keeps you young.
"If you’re learning, I think that’s a good position to be in, and it’s new, so that’s what I like to do, learn more and take more in from the coaches.
"During the season, it’s hard to download a lot of information because you’ve got games coming up and the nerves are all there whereas pre-season is a great period because you’re training hard and your body is broken, but it’s a great period to try things that you wouldn’t try during a season, and I think that’s what keeps it fresh and fun.
"In terms of the body, you get used to it as a rugby player – breaking, recovering, breaking, recovering – the physio team we’ve got here are fantastic, and they do a great job. The coaches break us, the physios repair us, and that’s the cycle – you get stronger, you get faster, and you get fitter, and it just helps you then to be robust for the season.”
Wigan’s first hit out of 2026 is a pre-season friendly against Championship outfit North Wales Crusaders at the Eirias Stadium in Colwyn Bay on Saturday, January 10 (1pm).
The Warriors will then host Hull FC in Liam Marshall’s testimonial match at the Brick Community Stadium on Sunday, February 1 (3pm).