Wigan Warriors dealt Bevan French blow as Matt Peet discusses potential replacements
Wigan Warriors will be without star man Bevan French for around four months due to a hamstring injury.
The Australian speedster suffered the injury late on in Wigan’s win over Toulouse Olympique on Saturday, and scans have revealed that he will require surgery on a torn hamstring and will be out for around 16 weeks.
"We had a fair idea with the way he explained it to the physios,” said Wigan coach Matt Peet in his weekly press conference. “They said it sounded like a bad one, so we had a trip home to get our heads around that one.
“You can see around the league, we’re not the only ones with a bit of tough news recently. It’s about dealing with it now, and it’s why you put your squads together, why you have your academy, and we’ve quickly got to turn it into a positive.
"Bevan seems alright. He’s a positive character – there was some frustration chatting to him on the way home because he has got himself in great shape. I think he felt like he had some good form ahead of him, but Bevan is quite philosophical. He quickly flicks the switch, and I think now he knows the timeframe and schedule for his recovery – like most professionals – he can get his head down now and focus on the present.”
The Warriors are now without two of their key spine players as French joins fullback Jai Field on the sidelines, with the latter out for around the next month after having his appendix removed.
The aforementioned absentees could see a first-team debut for homegrown talent Noah Hodkinson, while Zach Eckersley is an option to go to the No. 1 role, which could see debuts for Dayon Sambou or Nathan Lowe.
“We’ve got a couple of options,” said Peet. “Noah has been playing really well in the reserves. I was chuffed with him the other week against Leeds (in the reserves) – he has earned his stripes.
“And there’s Dayon and Nathan in recent weeks... Dayon was excellent for Salford at the weekend, and Nathan was impressive for the reserves, so I’ve got some decisions to make. If we went with an outside-back, it would mean moving Zach, potentially, which he’s done before, so we’ll weigh it up.”