Wigan Warriors season review part three: Miserable Magic, Lenagan's announcement and recruitment drive

It was a miserable start to the month on the field with a 46-22 thrashing to Catalans at Magic Weekend.

Jai Field returned from his long-term injury but it was Matt Whitley and Tom Johnstone who stole the headlines in the north east, scoring five tries between them.

Rivals St Helens avenged their Good Friday defeat in Round 15 with a 34-16 result at the Totally Wicked Stadium.

A difficult two weeks for the Warriors but they eventually bounced back in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals at the DW Stadium.

Having played the majority of the game with a man short, Peet’s side managed to claim a 14-12 victory over Warrington with tries from loanee centre Toby King and Abbas Miski, alongside three conversions from Harry Smith.

Kaide Ellis was sent off in the sixth minute after squaring up to Stefan Ratchford and the 74 minutes that followed was one of the gutsiest performances of the season.

Further victories followed over Salford away and Huddersfield at home respectively.

It was a record crowd for the Red Devils at the now-Salford Stadium with 7,854, while in-form winger Miski took his tally to tries in six consecutive games to keep Warriors’ sights on leaders Catalans.

It was then a trip to Belle Vue, a stadium Wigan have notoriously struggled at in recent seasons, having lost six of their last 10 trips in all competitions.

That became seven in 11 in Round 18, with Trinity claiming a golden point victory thanks to Will Dagger’s effort to keep their Super League survival hopes alive.

Wigan lost Ethan Havard to another injury, while Willie Isa also underwent surgery in July on a pectoral injury.

But they later made it three wins over Warrington in 2023, handing then-Daryl Powell’s side their fifth consecutive defeat in Round 19 with the result lifting Wigan to third on the table with a 26-12 triumph.

Long-serving chairman Lenagan announced that this season would be his last in July after 16 years of family ownership, having bought the club from Dave Whelan at the end of 2007.

July also saw some smart recruitment made by Peet, with Adam Keighran’s signing announced alongside new contracts for rising star Brad O’Neill and winger Miski.

One of the more dramatic games of the season saw 2022 Challenge Cup holders knocked out of the prestigious competition.

Brad Schneider kicked the winner at Headingley Stadium as Wigan suffered their second golden point defeat of the month.

Joe Shorrocks was shown red inside the first set of the second half for a high shot on Mikey Lewis - and the Warriors couldn’t duplicate the heroics from the quarter-final victory, falling to a 11-10 defeat.

Bevan French said that the heartbreaking loss would fuel motivation for a strong end of the season - and it certainly did with the start of their winning streak ahead, beginning against local rivals Leigh.

Miski once again impressed with a hat-trick, while highly-rated Tyler Dupree enjoyed a try-scoring debut following his mid-season switch from Salford in a move that saw Brad Singleton head the other way.

The televised clash saw an average audience of 158,000 – a 2.8% average of the TV scheduling – with a peak of 261,000 viewers, as reported by League Express.