Liam Byrne prepares for Wigan Warriors farewell as heartfelt tribute made to Matt Peet
After a decade with Wigan Warriors, Liam Byrne will run out at Old Trafford in his final game for the club this weekend – and he is determined to bow out with a winners’ ring.
Byrne will depart the Warriors at the season’s end to take up a two-year deal with Warrington Wolves. Wigan coach Matt Peet had declared publicly that he wanted to keep him, but that salary cap constraints did not permit.
The Ireland international joined Wigan’s academy a decade ago and has gone on to make more than 150 appearances since making his first-team debut in 2019.
Byrne entered the home dressing rooms at the Brick Community Stadium for the final time in last week’s semi-final win over Leigh Leopards – but there is one more big dance to go.
"I’m just extremely grateful to be able to go to Old Trafford and have another chance at getting another ring on my finger,” said Byrne.
"I don’t think it has really settled in yet. I’ve not thought about it too much. I think it will probably hit me after finishing the game – kind of bittersweet – obviously I’m so excited to go to Old Trafford, but at the same time, it’s the last game that I’ll play here (at the Brick as a Wigan player), and I’m sure even if we get the win at Old Trafford, I’m sure that will be bittersweet, as big as it is.
“Probably the off-season, I reckon, when it will start sinking in. I will miss the lads massively and all the coaches as well. I’ve had an amazing time here and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time.”
Peet is a man who knows Byrne more than most, having been in the role as head of youth when Byrne arrived in the academy as a 17-year-old.
"Matty has been massive for me,” said Byrne. “He has helped me so much in my career. You want to do your best for him, you want to leave everything out there on the pitch for him.
"He has been great for me – he brought me through when I was 17 and stuck with me. I probably had a hard first couple of years just getting to grips with it. It felt like a leap coming from an amateur background, and it felt like such a big step up, but Matty was patient with me and trusted me, so I’m just extremely grateful for that.
"I think when I first came here when I was 17, I hadn’t been in a professional environment like some of the other lads who had been in scholarship, so I felt like I had a lot to learn.
"I had a long way to grow into myself a bit more. I was still a kid and had only just left school. I left school imagining that I was going to go and get a job doing whatever, and I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so to get in a place like this, something I’d always dreamed of as a boy, was just massive for me. I’m very grateful.”
Byrne helped the Warriors win two Challenge Cups, two League Leaders’ Shields, a World Club Challenge and two Super League titles, with a third on offer this weekend.