Wigan Warriors are delighted to announce that Luke Thompson will join the Club on a four-year deal from 2024.
The 28-year old will make the move from Canterbury Bulldogs for whom he made 42 appearances since leaving St Helens in 2020.

Thompson won two Super League Grand Finals with St Helens in 2014 and 2019, and was the Harry Sunderland Trophy winner in the latter. He was also named in the Super League Dream Team in 2018 and 2019.

He has made seven appearances for England, including featuring in the Rugby League World Cup 2021 last year. He also made three appearances for Great Britain on the 2019 Lions tour.

Warriors Head Coach, Matt Peet said: “Luke is an outstanding acquisition for the club. He is a quality front-rower and brings a wealth of experience.

“We look forward to welcoming him and his family to the club.”

On signing, Luke Thompson said: “I can’t wait to be back playing in the Super League with crowds up and the squad strong.

“It’s a really exciting time to be joining Wigan. They’re playing great rugby and I’m looking forward to being a part of it.”

..

I concur with you there. The long shifts they put in also allows the coaching team to rotate the players more effectively which will mean that we should have a big advantage later in the game when the opposition forwards are tiring. Those two, and Cooper, when fit will be in the 17.

I loved Havard coming off the bench, his footwork against the slightly tired defence caused loads of problems.

Before his return game I might watch Warrington at home in the cup from last year. The best prop forward performance in years.


I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again

How we’ve gone from.

2020

GBurgess (injured)
Clubb on his last legs
Flower on his last legs
Bullock
Singleton
Mitch Clark
Partington/Byrne/Havard all being teenagers.

To 2024

Thompson
Dupree
Byrne
Havard
Ellis
Mago
Cooper
Hill
Eseh/Walters/Chan

Some transformation.

A hell of a turnaround from the dark days of 2019-2020 I agree. Still have nightmares from going into a playoff game against Saints with a front row of Clubb and a teenage Partington.

The only caveat with Havard is he has to be more consistent for me. The cup game against Warrington was awesome but then followed a drop off and its something that has been quite common for him at Wigan.

If all can be fit at the same time what the rotation? Harvard and Thompson start with Byrne, Dupree and Mago to come on? Rotate every week maybe as Cooper and hill wouldn’t deserve to miss out

Consistency is the only thing missing from Havards game. He's never poor but he goes from absolutely top class to just being reasonably good too often. His worst games are better than some players best games but he then shows you a glimpse of what he can achieve and you just want it more often. He's still young for a prop however and he has been impacted with injuries since that Warrington cup game last year. I think he will find that consistency at some point and you then have a regular international prop forward on your hands.