Wigan Warriors coach beams over 'excellent' Bevan French return amid 'exceeded expectations' praise

The Australian has spent the last two months in the treatment room with a troublesome calf injury, but he returned on Sunday afternoon to inspire the Warriors to a dominant 44-2 victory over Wakefield at the Brick Community Stadium.

French got on the scoresheet with a fine solo effort, whilst playing a key role in three more of Wigan’s eight tries, with the Warriors reclaiming second spot in the league table after 23 rounds.

“I thought he was excellent, probably exceeded expectations,” Peet said.

"Although he came up with some special plays, I think it runs a little bit deeper in terms of the simplicity in some of his plays, his attitude to kick out of our own end, to give us more balance in our kicking game, his kick-chase, and probably the pressure he takes off the rest of the spine players, Jai (Field) and Harry (Smith) are allowed to play with a bit more freedom, so I think everyone is glad to have him back.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wigan’s attack looked the most fluid it had been in months, with French chiming in with last tackle plays alongside primary kicker Harry Smith.

The simple question put to Peet was: Does French being in the team bring out the best in everyone else, too?

"Yeah,” Peet replied. “I think the fact is, even when we’ve not had Bevan, it has been Jack (Farrimond) for a few weeks and then Adam (Keighran) for a few weeks, and a few injuries there between them two and a different right edge all together, so I’m determined for us to be able to handle it better when we’ve got certain players missing.

"I think Jack is developing his game as a player and his combination with Harry is going to be a focus for us, but I think balance is the right word; we just looked more threatening across the field in terms of running, passing and kicking.”

Peet was good value in his post-match press conference, saying French will get better as the weeks go on in terms of match sharpness.

"You’d expect him to,” Peet added. “He threw one ball on the floor in the second half, and Tommy Leuluai was miffed, and I had to say, ‘the poor lad has not played for three months, cut him some slack!’.

"We have to be careful as coaches, teammates and supporters, that we don’t have too high expectations ahead, but I thought he was excellent, he was brilliant.”

French gets his name in the headlines for his flashes of brilliance with the ball, but he even made 11 tackles, including a try-saver on Wakefield prop Mathieu Cozza in the second half.

"It has got to be a non-negotiation for us now,” Peet added. “Jai does it, Liam Marshall and Jake Wardle came up with some big plays, those sort of scramble efforts now… I think every team, you get to the backend of the year and everyone is motivated, structured, and those sorts of efforts have to be a non-negotiable.”