Women’s Challenge Cup final: Wigan Warriors ‘not trying to be men’s team’

As a player, Betts won seven men’s Challenge Cups among a raft of trophies with an all-conquering Wigan side during nine years with the club from 1986 to 1995.

After coaching spells at a number of clubs including Widnes, he returned to Wigan as women’s head coach in 2024 and swiftly set about turning around their fortunes.

In last season’s Challenge Cup, they were beaten at the semi-final stage by eventual finalists Leeds Rhinos, and Betts has seen the progression in his side ever since.

That loss shaped his side and despite the result, he believes that where the team is now was borne out of their experiences in 2024.

“It took a few games and months to get going but we saw a little bit of it in the semi-final [in 2024] when we were beaten by Leeds at St Helens,” Betts added.

“We saw glimpses of it and throughout this season we’ve slowly got better and it culminated in a really strong win at York against Leeds [in 2025’s semi-final].

“We’ve given ourselves a chance in the top four but we’ve never really taken that and put a performance in that would give us a real foothold in that elite group, so to speak.

“So we went away and dusted ourselves down. The squad has changed a little bit but not massively, we’ve still got the core element of what that group is and they’ve worked really hard.”