Warriors dual reg with Oldham Roughyeds

Wigan Warriors and Oldham Roughyeds are pleased to announce a dual-registration partnership for the 2023 season.

The link with the Betfred League One club will offer some of Wigan’s young and upcoming talent the opportunity to gain valuable and regular first team experience and play competitive Rugby League to help with their development. 

The arrangement between the two clubs will see Wigan players continue to be registered to the Warriors but also registered to play for Oldham. When a Wigan player goes on dual-registration to Oldham, that player will be eligible to play and train with both clubs. The player is restricted to play in one fixture per scheduled round of fixtures in any given week and would not be eligible to play twice for Oldham and Wigan during the same weekend.

Dual-registration was first brought into the game in 2013 and Wigan have had previous partnerships with Swinton Lions, London Skolars and Newcastle Thunder.

The announcement comes off the back of the recent pre-season friendly between Wigan Warriors Academy and Oldham Roughyeds, where the Betfred League One side ran out 40-22 winners. Read the full match report HERE.

Talking on the partnership, Warriors Head of Youth, Shane Eccles, said: “Following on from a great link up last season we thought this was a great opportunity for both Clubs. Several of our players joined up with Oldham last season, it was a great experience for them, all the players came back with positive feedback on how the club treated them and the game time was invaluable.

“Going into this season we see this as being a strong link between the two Clubs where our players benefit from playing at this level to help them prepare for the rigours of playing at Super League. Stuart Littler was great with the players last year, he has a lot of coaching experience and will help develop our players for their future career.

He added: “If our players can go to Oldham and have a positive impact for the Club then everyone will benefit from this link.”

Oldham Head Coach, Stuart Littler said: “We’ve worked hard on this partnership and it will be big for us – Wigan’s recruitment and work within youth rugby is up there with the best, if not the best within the country.

“We’re all for developing Oldham Rugby League and the more depth in the squad we can get, the better we become. It will further challenge people for positions but also if you have an injury or a ban throughout the year, there’s somebody to lean on and utilise if needed.”

He added: “I’m a big believer that pressure creates diamonds, so we need people to stand up and show what they’re about. It gives us access to developing the coaching side – myself, Shez (assistant coach Brendan Sheridan) and the performance team. Both sides can bounce things off each other as they’ll be keeping an eye on our games if their lads are involved.”