Wigan Warriors: Matty Peet provides squad update and shares praise for the injured Willie Isa

Matty Peet believes it will be a good opportunity for the prop to recharge his batteries, especially with a week off also coming up.

The Warriors head coach also stated a couple of players are edging closer to contention following spells on the sidelines.

"There’s no new injuries,” he said.

“This might be a week where we take Liam Byrne out of the firing line.

"He’s been playing pretty busted for most of the season.

“This is a good opportunity to rest him and get some quality work around his injury to get him strong for the backend.

"Ethan (Havard) and Sam Powell will come back into contention in the next week or two- we’re in good shape.

"Sam is feeling a new lease of life, he’s worked very hard on himself physically during this period, as we would expect from him.

"He’s looking forward to getting some rugby under his belt.

"First thing we need to do is get him back fit, as in training fit, contact fit, building his match time up.

"I’m expecting him to compete for a place at hooker which will put pressure on Brad (O’Neill) and Cade (Cust).

"There’ll be someone missing out each week, and that competition for places can only be healthy for us.

"It means we can train at an intensity, our 13 on 13 looks like two good teams, which is always a good sign.”

Peet states the Warriors’ selection won’t be impacted by the expected changes Hull KR will make for Friday’s game at the SW Stadium, ahead of their Challenge Cup final against Leigh Leopards.

“We’re looking to build momentum,” he added. ”The fact is we’ve got the week off after this game, so to expose some of our players to the Hull FC match with a fortnight off wouldn’t be ideal.

"We can’t concern ourselves too much. It brings a different challenge because we won’t know the personnel, so we will just concentrate on ourselves- you can expect a strong team from us.”

The full timeframe of Willie Isa’s chest injury is still not clear, with the 34-year-old potentially set to miss the remainder of the campaign.

The second-rower’s contract with the Warriors ends at the conclusion of the season, with talks still ongoing between him and the club over the prospect of him extending his stay.

"We have a good enough relationship with Willie that communication is always open, so we will continue to talk to him on a weekly basis,” Peet stated.

"It’s about managing the salary cap and making sure there’s room for players coming through our pathway.

"Willie is a leader here, he has been for some time, so discussions are very live.

"He’s a great ambassador for this club and this team, and is everything we want to stand for.

"He does so much behind-the-scenes in the community.

"He drives standards on a daily basis in our meetings, even though he’s currently injured, guiding our young players in the right way.

"He plays and trains as intensely as I’ve seen anyone.

"He’s an impeccable leader and an impeccable professional- you need a constant flow of people like him at a club.”