Peet: Fundamentals were off

• Matt Peet gave his thoughts following Thursday nights loss away to Hull FC.
• Peet: “There’s improvement in us but I think the important thing is the courageous way that Hull defended for one another.”
• FT | Hull FC 14-10 Wigan Warriors.

Matt Peet reflected on a narrow loss to Hull FC on Thursday night.

Reflecting at full time, Peet said: “You always want to win and I thought Hull beat us at the start of the game particularly. Some of our fundamentals were off, first contact in particular in defence. Some of our defence in the first half wasn’t where it needed to be and then in the second half I thought on the whole we amended that but execution probably prevented us from getting the win.”

He added: “The difference in the second half was on the whole the effort was much better, physicality was better and you can always work with that. Ultimately Hull were full of energy, they were very motivated as we thought they would be.

“I think if it’s the same blokes next week, we’ve got to learn, we’ve got to improve and we’ve got to develop.”

Despite the loss, Peet was pleased with the efforts of Iain Thornley who returned to first team action for the first time since June 2022: “I thought he was excellent, I’m not sure what his numbers are yet but I just thought his desire was evident. I loved the way he carried the ball and I’m just really pleased for him.

“He’s worked so hard, as so often these players do – Jake Trueman will have been through something similar – there’s a lot of training on your own away from your mates, it’s pleasing to see Iain get a performance like that under his belt and it gives me something to think about down the line.”

Speaking on the game, the Head Coach added: “There’s probably a combination of factors. Hull’s energy – they were flying off the line, covering each other’s backsides, diving on loose balls so I know they’ll be looking at that and patting each other on the back, and rightly so for their scramble efforts.

“We’ll probably look back on it with a lot of ‘what ifs’ and ‘if only’s’ but the game doesn’t work like that, it’s about handling the emotions and thinking clearly in those pressure moments, playing the conditions, maybe not overplaying your hand at times and there’s improvement in us but I think the important thing is the courageous way that Hull defended for one another.

“The only game we spoke about in the preview was their performance against Huddersfield and I thought it was a similar approach from them – tough, resilient, the crowd were on board so one thing I won’t say is that we were surprised by them.”