Wigan Warriors dealt major injury blow on eve of Super League season

The 23-year-old featured from the interchange bench for Willie Isa at the MKM Stadium, having made his first appearance in the abandoned friendly against Wakefield Trinity.

However, he was forced from the action in the latter stages of the game, with the Warriors claiming a dominant 40-0 win over Tony Smith’s outfit.

Head coach Matt Peet confirmed the injury blow during Super League’s official launch held in Manchester on Thursday, with another scan required.

“He’s broken his collarbone,” Peet revealed.

“He’s going to get a second scan to find out if he needs an operation or not.

“We’ll not know the complete timescale, but it’s probably looking around the three month area if he needs an operation.

“If he doesn’t need an operation, it may be a little bit less.”

Having been initially ruled out until the end of February due to an off-season operation on a meniscal repair, fellow back-rower Junior Nsemba is now expected to be fit in April.

Peet admits he knew that he had to build his squad expecting the ‘challenges’ that the sport brings in a single season.

He added five new forwards to his pack ahead of 2024, including Walters, with Luke Thompson, Kruise Leeming, Tiaki Chan and Sam Eseh having all featured during the club’s pre-season schedule.

The 39-year-old coach continued: “People talked about how many forwards we’ve got and a lot of people have said to me during pre-season, ‘How are you going to keep them all happy?’ but we know what kind of squad we need and we know the numbers we need.

“We know the challenges this competition puts on your squad and this is a prime example of it.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors did not receive any charges from the match review panel following the pre-season win over Hull.

Huddersfield Giants captain Luke Yates looks set to miss the Super League clash against Wigan due to a three-match suspension for a dangerous throw/lift, receiving a Grade D against Castleford Tigers.

The 28-year-old Australian will serve his final match at the DW Stadium in round three.