The Wigan star not enough people are talking about as England call beckons

The Super League table rarely lies but right now, there is one glaring mistruth.

Yes, it is Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves who are joint-top of the league as we pass through halfway but the best team in the competition right now is neither of those two. It is Wigan Warriors – who will be unstoppable if they continue in this vein of form for the rest of the 2026 campaign.

After a sluggish start, Matt Peet’s side have roared into life in the last two months. Since beating Bradford Bulls at the start of May, they have gone on a run of six wins in seven games – with the only blot on their copy book the defeat to Hull KR, a game they essentially threw with Wembley in mind.

Clearly several things have changed in that time. Liam Farrell has gone back into the second row, Jake Wardle and Adam Keighran have returned, and Jack Farrimond has grown into the role of being a starting half-back in the absence of Bevan French.

All of these have contributed to Wigan finding their best form. But one thing, perhaps more than anything else, has really shifted the needle and clicked Wigan up a gear.

That aforementioned Bradford Bulls victory on May 2 was the first time in 2026 that Oli Partington started a game at 13 for Wigan. He had spent most of the early part of the season coming from the bench, with two games in the back row, with Kaide Ellis preferred at loose forward.

Ellis wasn’t hitting the standards he has set in recent years, and to his credit, he looks much better from the bench. But it is the decision to start Partington at 13 which is the inspired one. It was perhaps inevitable at some stage, and he is the one who is really making Wigan tick with and without the ball.

This is more of an eye test analysis rather than any straight statistical breakdown. But it is just as valid.

At a time when there is plenty of discussion about how important the role of a 13 is to a team in attack – you only have to look over the Billinge Hill to find that debate raging – Partington is perhaps the finest example in Super League of how to play the role in 2026.

With the ball, Partington is willing to take the line on and make the defensive threat bite. He is prepared to get hit in order to create space and shape, and with the attacking threat Wigan have in the spine and on the edges, that is a very important trait to have.

Ellis just wasn’t doing that enough in the early stages of the season but Partington is the one who has laid the platform to take Wigan’s attack to new heights. He may not do any of the flashy stuff with ball in hand but take him out, and the Warriors would be nowhere near as crisp.

That’s before you even discuss what he does without the ball. His defensive contributions are of the highest order.

It’s easy to forget Partington was a victim of Wigan’s salary cap issues a couple of years ago. They simply couldn’t afford to offer him the money he deserved, which is why he went elsewhere. The Warriors never wanted to lose him, and it’s a problem they may face again with some other young stars unless the cap rules change.

But the plan was always to bring him home. The competition for the 13 shirt for England is certainly tough, with Morgan Knowles and Victor Radley just two. But Partington is displaying the kind of form which is surely impossible for Brian McDermott to ignore.

If he keeps this up, Partington will be a Test rugby player before 2026 is out. And Wigan may well end up with more trophies than the one they’ve already secured.