Matt Peet's verdict on Wigan Warriors' win over Wakefield Trinity with 'positive step' assessment
Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet said he was pleased with his side’s professional display as they comfortably beat Wakefield Trinity 44-2 at the Brick Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The Warriors were 18-2 to the good at half-time thanks to first half tries from Adam Keighran, Bevan French and Zach Eckersley, whilst Max Jowitt added a penalty goal for the visitors.
The hosts scored five unanswered in the second half through Junior Nsemba, Jai Field, Eckersley, Liam Marshall and Sam Walters, which saw Wigan record an impressive 44-2 victory against play-off hopefuls Wakefield.
“I’m pleased,” said Peet. “In the reflection of the Hull KR game, there were obviously some areas of improvement, particularly with the ball, so the team have worked hard, individually and collectively, and I thought today was a positive step.
“I think in general, we’ve been defending alright over the last few weeks, but we had a bit more flow about us with the ball and the consistency of the performance through the 80 minutes is what I’ll take away from it.
"Last week, we made some basic errors, credit to Hull KR and the intensity of their defence, but today I just thought we looked like we had more threat, which created more space, and our skill was better.
"I’m not getting carried away. I know that, without disrespecting Wakefield, we’re going to have to do it against more intense defences, but it was a positive step.”
Wigan have only conceded one try in their last two outings – against Hull KR and Wakefield – and Peet is confident as far as his side’s defence is concerned.
"That has been the focus for a long time, to be honest,” Peet added.
"I don’t think we were defending at our level at a certain part of the season. The Catalans game at home, we let in some soft tries, so we made that our focus and probably this week, more than anything, we’ve shifted it.
"That, in combination with getting Bevan (French) back, there is no shying away from him improving us and giving us more balance, but I think anyone at the game could see there was a bit more to it than that.”
Next up for the Warriors is an away trip to Catalans Dragons on Saturday evening.