Wigan Warriors have confirmed a new dual-registration partnership with League 1 club Oldham for the 2023 season.
The link will see some of Wigan’s young and upcoming talent get the opportunity to gain first-team experience at Stuart Littler’s Oldham in League 1.
Wigan have previously enjoyed partnerships with Swinton, London Skolars and most recently, Newcastle Thunder.
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.”
Littler on new Wigan Warriors link up
Oldham head coach Littler added: “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.”
“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.”
The club are currently without half-back Lewis Sheridan, who suffered a nasty knee injury during the club’s pre-season fixture match against Rochdale.
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