Kruise Leeming explains what sets Wigan Warriors apart from Leeds Rhinos

Wigan Warriors lifted the Challenge Cup yesterday to complete a remarkable clean sweep. Wigan are the first team since St Helens in 2007 to hold all four major trophies simultaneously and appear to be on the verge of another era of dominance.

Kruise Leeming joined Wigan in the close season and has played a big part in their success this season. He scored a try in Wigan’s World Club Challenge win over Penrith Panthers and came off the bench in yesterday’s win over Warrington, adding further momentum after Warrington’s quick start.

Leeming joined Wigan after a difficult few years. He has left Leeds Rhinos and Super League under a cloud after demanding a move following a disagreement with head coach Rohan Smith. He spent a spell in the NRL with the Gold Coast Titans before joining Wigan.

Now, after picking up two pieces of silverware in his first few months at Warriors, Leeming is delighted to have joined a successful club.

Quiz: Can you name all these former Wigan Warriors players?

Wigan Warriors share Leeming’s values

Warrington Wolves v Wigan Warriors

Speaking after yesterday’s win, Leeming expressed his pride in winning the club. He stated that while he won silverware elsewhere in his career, such as the Challenge Cup with Leeds, they did not always put in the work off the pitch to build a strong culture. Not the case at Wigan. Leeming said:

“It’s a very special group of guys. I’ve been in positions before where I’ve been on championship teams and probably the work behind the scenes hasn’t come into play. We have everything right here at Wigan and we deserve to be in the final and we deserve to win.

“And that’s not just talking about on the field, off the field, how we treat people, how we’re like men, how we’re like men. We have everything on point there so it would have been an anomaly for us not to win there today. I think I deserved it.”

“It’s good to be part of a club that has the same values ​​as me. I could have come here and earned them and still been unhappy, which sounds weird to some people, but I could have been if I had been in an environment that didn’t have the same values ​​as me and I wouldn’t dealing with guys either in the championship team but being miserable.”

Wigan go back to the drawing board after victory

Credit: Imago Images

Leeming is delighted to have settled so quickly with the club and that is largely down to how the other players have accepted him:

“The way they accepted me, the way they improved me as a player and as a person is everything I wanted. This is the reason for my decision. It was a massive decision coming back from the NRL to get behind the Super League and play for Wigan.

“The decision was which team would make me a better person and which team would make me a better player and in the end they came down to Wigan and I’m so glad they did.”

Asked how Wigan will keep themselves motivated after achieving so much success, he explained that no-one at the club will rest on their laurels:

“That’s the best thing about this team and this environment, we’re going to go back to the drawing board, you know, when we stop drinking and we’re not celebrating, we’re going to look at that game and see where we could have been better , while most teams will probably have watched that game and won and that’s it, that’s the cap.

“We know there are other things we want to achieve, there are other reasons we play and you never get tired of winning, you never get tired of being successful. If we’ve played this game 100 times and picked up that trophy 100 times, the feeling of walking up those stairs never gets boring, you never get bored.”