Warriors captain Vicky Molyneux announces her retirement

Wigan Warriors have announced that Vicky Molyneux will retire on the conclusion of Betfred Women’s Super League season.

The 37-year-old Loose Forward will bring the curtain down on her career following the conclusion of the 2025 Betfred Women’s Super League season, which sees Wigan take on local rivals St Helens in the Grand Final on Sunday 5 October (5.30pm).

Following in the footsteps of her father James (Jim) Molyneux who holds Wigan heritage number 667, Vicky first picked up a rugby ball to represent a boys team in her hometown of Rochdale aged 10, before joining Hillside Hawks Girls team.

She was part of the first ever England Women’s team that faced France back in 2007, where a fresh-faced young Molyneux proudly took to the field for her Country for the first time to take the Heritage number three. 

Molyneux then took some time away from the sport to start a family, with her daughter Molly now always on the sidelines to cheer on her mum – including walking out at Wembley Stadium hand-in-hand earlier this year.

Making the decision to return to the sport, Molyneux was captain of the Team GB Teachers squad in 2019 where she led them to two wins from two and also joined the Warriors for the 2019 campaign.

After a commanding few years with the Warriors, she was then named vice-Captain for the Club ahead of the 2021 season. A season which culminated in further International appearances for the forward, who was the most capped player in the RLWC21 for England before she hung up her international boots at the end of 2023.

A player who is proud of her family connections, Molyneux also enjoyed sharing the field with her sister, Sarah Bardsley in the 2023 season, a season which saw Vicky become the first female player to be inducted into the Wigan Warriors Hall of Fame at the End of Season Awards whilst also receiving the RFL Presidents Award in January 2024.

In 2024, Denis Betts took charge of the Women’s Team and a new-look Warriors were born. Molyneux was named Captain of the side and she led them to their first trophy since 2018, as the Warriors were crowned Women’s Nines Winners but narrowly missed out both other major finals that year.

Retirement was on the horizon at the conclusion of 2024, but Molyneux decided to pull on the boots for one more year – a year which will live long in the history books of Wigan Warriors Women. The Warriors Women made their first ever Challenge Cup Final appearance at Wembley Stadium in June with Vicky co-captaining the side with Georgia Wilson and lifting the trophy in the Royal Box. 

Though Molyneux didn’t feature, the Warriors made it back-to-back Women’s Nines trophies before going on to lift the League Leaders’ Shield after proving to be the most consistent side in the competition in 2025. Molyneux will now lead the Warriors into the Women’s Grand Final on Sunday 5 October, as she looks to bring an end to her career in the best way possible.

Speaking on her retirement, Molyneux said: “The last few years have been fantastic and I knew I could go out there and do what I’ve always done. As time passes, sadly my head and my heart are still 100% invested – my body is just not keeping up with it.”

She added: “I made the decision quite early in the year, but I wanted to make sure I ended with a little bit of closure. It was important to me that the girls knew, my family knew and hopefully I can finish on a high now lifting a trophy in the Grand Final.”