Peet previews Hull KR
- Matt Peet spoke to the press on Tuesday afternoon ahead of his first Betfred Super League game as Warriors Head Coach.
- Peet: “The game plan is only as good as the communication and relationship between the players.”
- Hull KR v Wigan Warriors, Friday 11th February, Sewell Group Craven Park (8pm K.O.)
Matt Peet addressed the press in his first weekly Super League press conference as Head Coach ahead of Friday’s visit to Hull KR.
The Warriors boss expressed his excitement as the season closes in: “How excited can you get? I don’t know how you score excitement but I’m very excited, can’t wait and I’m looking forward to it.”
Reflecting on pre-season, he said: “I’m pleased, we’ve had our review of our pre-season and we feel that there are a lot of things that we’ve done well, that we set out to do and that we’ve achieved. There’s the odd thing which we might not have done for certain reasons, but we’re also acutely aware that most teams will feel that they are in the same position and we’ve not yet been tested.
“Every team will tell you that they’ve had a successful pre-season, but the fact is that there’s no real challenge, you’re in amongst yourselves. There’s no doubt that every team, every player and every member of staff is working hard but it’s not until you gauge that against how hard others have been working that you really know where you stand.”
On Friday’s opponents Hull KR, Peet said: “We have to concentrate on ourselves. It makes it ever so easy to do that against a team like Hull KR because they’re a very unpredictable team. They change the way they play, they’re unpredictable and challenging in so many different ways. It’s always good against Hull KR to concentrate on your own processes, even more so in Round 1.
“I think they’ll play with freedom, you’d expect that they will move the ball but I’m also aware that they can play direct. We played them post-covid and expected a lot of ball movement but they played right through the heart of us, so it’s about concentrating on ourselves, knowing that Hull KR are a team who pose a lot of different challenges.”
Peet spoke about the changes in environment ahead of the game: “I do believe that the on-field stuff in a way can take care of itself, or is easier to guide and mold once you get the environment right, getting the culture and relationships between people – then I think you can affect change in the way you play. If you try and implement things on poor foundations then I think you can have the best game plan in the world but it can fall on deaf ears. I think getting the team connected, motivated and building trust between them is the cornerstone.”
The Head Coach was also quizzed on how he plans to get the best out of his team in 2022: “The game plan is only as good as the communication and relationship between the players, so we’ve probably spent more time on individual skill and getting the group connected, communicating and enjoying one anothers company than we have altering tactics. Hopefully, all those different factors come together and we challenge defences.”
Peet also gave an update on injuries: “Zak (Hardaker) is in the mix for the game on Friday, Ethan (Havard) will be mid-March.”
