Wigan Warriors: Matty Peet provides Bevan French update following the fullback's return to the UK

On Monday evening, the fullback posted a picture on his Instagram story of himself and teammate Willie Isa at Robin Park Arena.

The 26-year-old returned to Australia last year to recover from a season-ending injury, but was granted compassionate leave by the club to remain there longer.

Peet said: “First and foremost, Bevan is a friend, he’s a very popular member of the club, everyone is pleased to see him back. We’re just glad he’s here so we can take care of him. We know he is a class act and that we can get him physically right, so it’s about making sure he feels at home.

“We know he’s got the ability, what we need to get right is the support around him. We all know a rock solid, 100 per cent fit Bevan French gets in the team, and that’s exciting. Those are the difficult decisions I want to make.

“We’ve done assessments on him physically this morning, but with the fact he had such a long day’s travel we haven’t gone the whole hog, it was more about getting him back settled with the group today.

“As he catches up on his sleep then we will intensify his practice and puts some dates in place.

“We will speak openly about phycological welfare. I’m really keen to spend some time with him away from the training ground. There’s things we can do around his pastoral support where we will go out of our way a little bit more to welcome him back.”

Peet hasn’t yet decided how and when he will ease French back into first team match action.

“I haven’t thought about it in too much detail,” he added.

“It would have to be the right reserve game on the right week. I would be prepared to play him off the bench if needs be, hopefully it will be difficult to get him back in.

“Our fans get it, they know he is one of our own and are well aware of what he’s been through. They’ll be excited to see him before they judge how he plays.”

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