Matt Peet explains Wigan Warriors’ squad rotation with detailed insight given
Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet has given a detailed insight into why he opted to rotate his matchday line-up for their big win over Castleford Tigers.
The reigning Super League champions clinched a top-two finish and a home semi-final in the play-offs thanks to a thumping 62-6 win over Castleford in front of a 15,000-strong crowd at the Brick Community Stadium on Friday night.
Peet made four changes to his matchday line-up from their 18-4 victory at St Helens the week before, with Abbas Miski, Jack Farrimond, Patrick Mago and Tyler Dupree coming back into the fold, replacing Adam Keighran, Harry Smith, Liam Farrell and Liam Byrne.
The Warriors boss also made a number of positional changes, too. Kruise Leeming started at hooker with Brad O’Neill on the bench, whilst Junior Nsemba was back starting in the back-row and Zach Eckersley at centre rather than on the right wing.
Peet was asked by Wigan Today about the thought process behind why he opted for rotation, and thankfully, none of them were injury-related reasons.
"Harry plays a lot for us, and Jack was outstanding for the Reserves last week, so I thought it was a good opportunity to give him that as well,” said Peet. “Jack has earned it. If he hadn’t played well for the Reserves, then I wouldn’t have played him, but he was excellent, so I thought he deserved another go.
"Adam Keighran, as we know, has been playing through the pain a little bit, so it made sense to freshen him up and give Abbas that opportunity, along with Zach in his preferred position.
"To be honest with you, I wanted to give Tyler an opportunity, so it was a case of which middle didn’t need the minutes so much. Luke Thompson and Ethan Havard needed minutes because of their injuries, Patrick Mago missed last week, Harvie Hill is a young player, so I thought I’d rest Liam Byrne.
"And then Liam Farrell, for obvious reasons, plays big minutes. Within the game, I had an eye on Kaide Ellis because he plays every week, so he played the first 20. Kruise got more minutes, we looked after Brad, and Jake Wardle plays a lot, so we got him off when we could. There was a lot to it.”