Wigan enter new dual-registration partnership with Championship club

Wigan have entered a dual-registration partnership with Championship club Newcastle Thunder for the 2022 season.

The agreement will offer some of Wigan’s young talent the opportunity to gain first team experience.

The partnership will see Wigan players continue to be registered to the Warriors. Also, they will be registered to play for Newcastle in the Championship.

The player is restricted to play in one fixture per scheduled round of fixtures in any given week. They would not be eligible to play for Newcastle and Wigan during the same weekend.

Wigan have had previous dual-registration partnerships with Swinton and London Skolars.

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Wigan boss happy to partner with Newcastle

Wigan coach Matt Peet said: “We’ve got a good relationship with Thunder, so they’ll be our partner club this year.

“The pre-season game is part of that as well as us sharing ideas with Denis (Betts) and Eamon (O’Carroll) about best practice. They will take things from here but also we’ll learn from them. I’m sure you’ll see a few of our players playing for Newcastle this year as players like Sam Halsall did last year.

“The way Sam was looked after, it proved to us that Newcastle was a strong club, a caring club; one we want to do more with going forward.”

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Newcastle coach Eamon O’Carroll said: “Certainly for us the quality of players that we may be able to bring in from Wigan, I saw that today from people who have just joined the first team, they’re learning every day and they’re around good players.

“From our point of view, we offer the opportunity for the players to still remain in a full-time environment and also the opportunity for them to get out of this environment with some exposure to a different setting.”

READ MORE: League 1 ins and outs for 2022: Signings club-by-club