Wigan Warriors' Matt Peet pays Wakefield Trinity ultimate compliment with Daryl Powell hallmark aired

Wigan host Wakefield at the Brick Community Stadium in Round 23 of Super League on Sunday afternoon, with the visitors hoping to push their way into the top six to be involved in the play-offs at the end of the regular campaign. Meanwhile, reigning champions Wigan are aiming to overtake St Helens to regain second place in the table, with the hope of securing a home semi-final in the play-offs.

Wakefield, who have impressed upon their return to Super League this year, have already beaten Wigan once this season, a 16-10 win at Belle Vue in June.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Warriors boss Peet paid credit to Trinity and their coach Daryl Powell.

"I think you can’t be anything but impressed with them,” said Peet.

"The squad they’ve assembled, the improvement that Daryl and his coaching staff have made as the year’s gone on, you can see the way they like to play is good to watch, it’s a good brand of rugby, and that’s a hallmark of Daryl’s teams.

"They are certainly a team that will challenge you with the quality of their shape and the intelligence of their players, and as we found out at their place, the halves linked up well and kicked excellently, so we’re going to have to be better than last week.

"They rightly are where they are in the league, so I think it just shows that they are a high-quality play-off capable team with plenty of momentum on and off the field, some high quality players, some of those they’ve recruited we wouldn’t all have known in the last couple of years, but also some high-quality proven Super League talent like Jake Trueman, Mike McMeeken and Tom Johnstone, so they’ve certainly recruited intelligently and aggressively as well.

“I think it’s important to mention some of the young players they’ve brought through as well, it’s not just been a case of going and buying players from overseas. I think Oliver Pratt, Cameron Scott, Corey Hall, I know they’ve not all come through their system, Jayden Myers, I think he has been excellent since he’s come in, young (Ellis) Lingard is going to be a proper player as well, so they’re doing everything right at Wakefield.”

The Warriors are aiming to return to winning ways following a 10-6 defeat to Hull KR last week, whilst Trinity have won three of their last four games.

"I hope we get a better result, and we’re working hard to get a better result, I wouldn’t say expect is the right word, none more so than last week,” Peet added.

"I know that if we’re close to our best and much improved on last week, then we’ll have every chance, but I’m also aware that in any particular facet of the game, if we are under par, then Wakefield have the quality to go home with the two points as well.

"We’ve got a lot of respect for Wakefield, a bit of a challenge, but we want to do the right thing for our fans on Sunday afternoon.”