Wigan Warriors v Leigh Leopards: Jake Wardle previews Battle of the Borough with 'big occasion' comment made

The Warriors welcome the Leopards to the Brick Community Stadium on Friday night in the latest billing of the Battle of the Borough, with more than 17,000 tickets sold for the game, which also forms part of a double-header as the Women’s Super League season gets underway with Challenge Cup finalists Wigan hosting reigning WSL champions York Valkyrie.

Wigan have faced Leigh once already this season, with Adrian Lam’s Leopards claiming a 1-0 win in golden point at the Brick Community Stadium in the opening game of the Super League season in front of a strong crowd of almost 22,000.

Matt Peet’s side are looking to make it six wins in a row after having a week off last week due to the Challenge Cup semi-finals taking place.

“It’s going to be a good one,” said Wardle. “Obviously, with us having a week off, all the boys are itching to get back out there. Leigh have been going well, so it should be a good game.

“It is called the Battle of the Borough, and it is a big occasion. Hopefully, there’ll be a lot of fans who can come down and support both teams and make it a great atmosphere.”

It is second versus third in the Super League table, with second-placed Wigan just two points behind league leaders Hull KR, whilst third-placed Leigh are just one point behind their borough rivals.

Peet’s side are in a rich vein of form at the moment, whilst Leigh will be hoping to bounce back from being knocked out of the Challenge Cup semi-finals by Warrington Wolves last Sunday.

“I think it’s going to be a tough game, they’ve been going really well,” Wardle added. “Obviously, they played at the weekend and got knocked out of the Cup, so they’ll be wanting to get their season back on track in Super League, so they’ll come out firing and hopefully we can match them and come out one better.

“For us, it is about focusing on ourselves, and if we do that, hopefully we can get the win.”

Meanwhile, the Warriors will be without experienced winger Abbas Miski for a couple of months after the Lebanon international underwent surgery on the knee injury that has been troubling him for a couple of months.

Miski’s absence could potentially give an opportunity to young gun Zach Eckersley, who has shown great versatility during his time in the first-team so far, being comfortable playing centre, wing or fullback.

Wardle, who has been one of the premier centres in Super League for several years now, is happy to play a mentoring role to talented youngsters such as Eckersley.

“To be honest, I think me Adam Keighran have kind of done that subconsciously anyway, just because we just want everyone to be the best version of themselves and improve as much as they can,” Wardle said.

“The way the game is going, there are times when people are going to get injured or banned. Obviously, Zach has had a good run of games, so for me and Adam to help him as much as we can, it’s only going to benefit the team.”