The exclusive club Wigan Warriors will join if they win the League Leaders’ Shield this week

Wigan Warriors will join an exclusive club this week: should Matt Peet’s side clinch the League Leaders’ Shield.

The reigning Super League and world champions host the in-form Salford Red Devils at the Brick Community Stadium on Thursday night: and a win would see them claiming back-to-back League Leaders’ Shields for the first time ever.

Only one other club has managed to claim back-to-back League Leaders’ Shields: St Helens.

Well, in fact, the Saints actually won the League Leaders’ Shield four seasons in a row between 2005 and 2008, so Wigan still have a fair way to go to equal – or break – that record held by their rivals. Saints also claimed the honour back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.

But the Warriors would become only the second club to have claimed the Shield over consecutive campaigns.

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Should Wigan claim the League Leaders’ Shield this week, it would be their fifth time of lifting trophy for being Super League’s most consistent, top team all season.

The Cherry and Whites have previously won it four teams – 2010, 2012, 2020 and 2023.

Peet’s side currently hold all four major trophies available to them, having claimed the League Leaders’ Shield last year, beaten Catalans Dragons in the 2023 Super League Grand Final, lifted the World Club Challenge title earlier this year and most recently defeated Warrington Wolves at Wembley to lift the Challenge Cup for a record-extending 21st time.

Ranking every Super League club by the number of League Leaders’ Shields won

The League Leaders’ Shield, which is one of the British game’s four major honours, was first awarded back in 2002.

Super League, of course, began in 1996. But in the first two seasons, the team finishing top were simply crowned champions with no play-off system in place.

And from 1998 to 2001, the League Leaders’ Shield just wasn’t a thing, with the reward for finishing top just being progression into the play-off semi-finals.

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In the 22 seasons which have seen the trophy awarded so far, only eight different clubs have topped the tree and got their hands on the honour.

Below, we’ve ranked the eight Super League clubs to have one at least one League Leaders’ Shield by the number of times they’ve held the honour.

Where clubs have won it the same number of times, we’ve separated them by how recent their last table-topping year came. The more recent, the higher up on this ranking…

8. Bradford Bulls (1) – 2003

7. Huddersfield Giants (1) – 2013

6. Castleford Tigers (1) – 2017

5. Catalans Dragons (1) – 2021

4. Warrington Wolves (2) – 2011 and 2016

3. Leeds Rhinos (3) – 2004, 2009 and 2015

2. Wigan Warriors (4) – 2010, 2012, 2020 and 2023

1. St Helens (9) – 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2022

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