Peet Previews Wakefield
- Matt Peet spoke to the press ahead of Wigan’s Super League home opener against Wakefield on Friday.
- Peet: “We were open and honest with one another – that’s all of us players and staff.”
- You can buy tickets for the fixture by visiting or ringing the DW ticket office or by clicking HERE.
Matt Peet says Wigan’s home opener ‘can’t come round soon enough’ as Warriors prepare to host Wakefield in Round 2 of Super League this Friday.
Peet’s men will be looking to bounce back immediately from their 27-18 opening day loss at Hull KR, with the Head Coach looking to build on lessons learnt from last week.
“Yesterday was an important day for us.” he said, “We were open and honest with one another – that’s all of us players and staff. Today’s been very optimistic and looking forward with excitement.
“It hasn’t been too much different from a regular training week. I just think that potentially at the weekend we took our focus off some of the hard work that you’ve got to do before you play a certain style. We turned some cheap ball over and weren’t at the races defensively.. If you don’t look after the ball and you miss tackles you get beat.”
The fixture saw Jake Wardle get on the score-sheet on his Super League debut for the Warriors, with Peet optimistic about the impact he can have moving forward this season.
He said: “I think he showed glimpses of what he’s capable of. He seems to be getting some good combinations with Liam Marshall and the way he’s been applying himself I look forward to watching him perform.”
The Warriors will face up against Wakefield Trinity, who will be in a similar position looking to bounce back from their Round 1 loss at home to Catalans Dragons.
“I thought they played with determination, I think you could see some combinations they’ve got that look very dangerous, the halves certainly are a threat.” Peet said
“They’ve got good players, I’ve read Mark’s comments about the unforced errors and I’ll go along with that – if they’d held up the ball that bit better and for longer they could have won that one. I consider Mark a friend, he supports me and hopefully I can offer him some support at times. The more of that for all coaches, the better really. I look forward to catching up with him on Friday and continue that friendship through the season.
“They’ve shown they’ve got the ability to post points, so defensively we’ve got to be good. The better we look after the ball the better chance we’ve got of doing that.”
The homecoming fixture sees Super League action return to the DW Stadium for the first time since September, with Warriors looking to replicate the fortress they made during the 2022 season.
Peet said: “We don’t worry too much about how other people feel about coming, we want to make it somewhere we have a confidence about us and we play in a way that makes ourselves and families proud.
“I know the fans will make a good atmosphere. Hopefully the Wakefield fans will get over as well and support Mark. It can’t come around soon enough now.”
Pre-match entertainment by 90’s dance icon Rozalla will build the atmosphere pre-match at the Robin Park Fan Village and live inside the DW stadium, with the Wigan Head Coach saying: “I think it’s been a really exciting start to the year on and off the field.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get the result, but looking around at the other events that were created, its been noticeable that every club is making an effort and I know we’ll be doing that and we’ll be looking to push things on to another level and building on last year which was fantastic in and around the DW.”
You can still purchase tickets for Wigan’s home opener by visiting or ringing the DW ticket office, or to book online click HERE.
