Wigan Warriors: Matty Peet expects a committed performance from Leeds Rhinos despite their absentees

Richard Agar’s side are set to be without a number of first team players when they travel to the DW Stadium.

Despite their opponents missing some key individuals, Peet is still wary of the threats they pose.

He said: “With Leeds you know you’re up against a big club who will bring a challenge. I don’t expect any difference from them.

“It’s what I’d hoped we would be like, where regardless of the names in the jersey, there is still an expectation.

“They’re an excellent team, you could see they were committed against Warrington.

“You can see over the last couple of years under Richard and his coaching staff that they are building a committed group, who are very athletic and have a high skill level.

“They’ve sort of returned to what you’d be expecting, where you feel like you’re playing a team with a really strong identity.

“They are coming into that group of teams who are never off, you know you’ve got to be at your best to beat them.

“Even when they have players missing, they have high commitment levels, so it’ll be an exciting challenge.”

Peet can see plenty of similarities between Wigan and Leeds, in terms of how they bring through players.

“We’ve been built on homegrown players for a long time,” Peet acknowledged.

“We have competed with Leeds at academy level over the years.

“They are the sides you like to see doing well, because you can see they’ve taken a patient approach to building a team.

“They’ve done a great job in bringing those players through, as well as getting the recruitment with some X Factor players.

“You can see they’ve got a good blend, so it’s good for the future of Leeds.”

Peet is excited to take charge of his first home game as head coach and hopes they can attract fans to Robin Park throughout this season.

“Like last weekend, it will be very exciting,” he said.

“I’ll be very proud, and so will my family because it means a lot to them. I enjoyed it last week, even though everyone told me to smile more. I love coaching and I love working with this group of players.

“The team are very excited to be back at home, it’s something we’ve spoken about since day one of pre-season, giving the supporters something they can get behind.

“It’s not about us playing 80 minutes Harlem Globetrotters-style, but if we can play a way which troubles defences and ask questions, I’m confident this town will get behind us.

“We got a lot of really nice messages from schools, community clubs and local organisations.

“It was really touching for the players and motivated them, so I hope a lot of those players can get to the game.”

With a number of disciplinary charges made across Super League in round one, Peet says it is something they have brought up in conversation.

“We’ve spoken about it at length, and at times we’ve let ourselves down in general discipline last year,” the Warriors coach added.

“You teach quality tackle technique anyway, no coaches want to be giving penalties away.

“I think as everyone gets match fitter, you’ll see less of those poor tackle selections.”

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