Peet previews Salford
- Head Coach Matt Peet gave his thoughts ahead of his first Challenge Cup game in charge.
- Peet: “I don’t think the expectation or the pressure changes or is enhanced, it’s about performing on Friday night – dead simple.”
- Wigan Warriors v Salford Red Devils, Friday 25th March, DW Stadium, 7:35pm. Buy tickets HERE.
Matt Peet says he is ‘excited’ at the prospect of the Warriors first taste of knockout rugby in 2022 as his side prepare to face Salford Red Devils in the Betfred Challenge Cup this Friday.
“It’s enormous,” he said, “It’s an expectation that we perform well in all competitions so as soon as we perform in a sudden death game, like any Club, sudden death gets us excited. We know it means a lot to the town, to fans of the Club and to take the town and the fans on any sort of journey at the moment – that’s what motivates us. It’s important that our focus is massively on a tough challenge on Friday.”
Speaking on their opponents, Salford Red Devils, Peet said: “We or I always thought Salford would have resurgence this year with Paul (Rowley). They’re a Club who have been in the big games in recent years and the squad they’ve assembled contains a lot of hardened Super League and NRL players, with a quality Coach. I’m not surprised to see they’ve turned some decent teams over. They move the ball well, run hard and tackle hard – so it’s game on this Friday.”
Peet also reflected on the history of the Challenge Cup: “Fantastic memories, it seemed like a constant during my childhood – it seems now something you realise you took for granted being a Wigan fan during that era. I know how special it would be for our players, staff and fans of the Club to experience that.
“It was Salford who beat us, I remember that myself. It felt like a never ending run and then it was Salford who turned us over, that’s not wasted on me. Salford are always a team who want to turn up and compete, it’ll be no different this week.”
He added: “One thing we know is that all the trophies we won was one game at a time, one trophy at a time and that’s the approach we’re taking. We draw inspiration from our history but the fact is we need to get our performance right, our processes right and we’re up against a good team who won’t be bothered how many Challenge Cups Wigan have won.”
On whether the team feels any pressure this week, he said: “I think there’s pressure to play well every week, one way or another. Last week it was pressure to see how we responded after France, this week it’s pressure to progress in the Challenge Cup and the exciting thing this week is it’s do or die and both teams will be desperate to win.”
Tickets for this Friday’s Betfred Challenge Cup Sixth Round clash are now on general sale, whilst Season Ticket Holders can still claim their cup discount. Find out more HERE.
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