Wigan Warriors boss discusses Bevan French return chances with Abbas Miski latest provided

Bevan French ‘has got a good chance’ of returning to action on Friday night when Wigan Warriors make the trip to Wakefield Trinity, according to his coach Matt Peet.

The Australian superstar missed last Saturday’s 40-16 win over Catalans Dragons in Paris, as he stayed at home and continued building his running load as he recovers from a three-month injury lay-off.

French had been sidelined since March 7 with a significant hamstring injury, and returned in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley, featuring in a cameo role from the bench for the last 20 minutes in Wigan’s emphatic 40-10 win over Hull KR under the famous arch.

The 30-year-old halfback came out of the side for the trip to Paris - but has been named in Peet’s 21-man squad for Friday’s clash with Wakefield at the DIY Kitchens Stadium.

“He’s got a chance if he gets through the next few days of training,” said Peet. “We won’t push it, but he has got a good chance.”

Meanwhile, playmaker general Harry Smith is set to return for Wigan this weekend, having served his one-match suspension as the Warriors won convincingly in the French capital last time out.

“He was disappointed to miss out last week, but he looks determined in training, and hopefully that carries through to the weekend,” Peet added.

Whether French plays this weekend or not, Peet will face a healthy selection headache in the coming weeks - with youngster Jack Farrimond performing outstandingly well, while 17-year-old George Marsden has impressed when given the chance.

When asked how tough a selection dilemma that will be, Peet replied: “It’ll be the same as lots of others that we’ve had. No more or less difficult than telling people they’re not in the team, it’s the job, and we select the team we feel is going to give us the best chance of having success, so it’s probably not as difficult as people might think.

“I’m very confident in the squad that they all want to play. We’ve got 30-odd players, everyone wants to play, everyone is working hard to be in the best 17 and the best 13, and it’s the same for the lads in the academy and reserve grade – it’s just about keeping your head down, working hard and trying to get better.”

Meanwhile, Peet confirmed that the club’s plan to loan experienced winger Abbas Miski out in the coming weeks remains. The Lebanon international has made two appearances for the reserves since returning from injury, scoring a try in Saturday’s 76-10 win over London Broncos at Edge Hall Road Community Stadium.

“It is, yeah,” said the Warriors boss when asked if the plan remained to loan out Miski, who won’t play for Wigan’s first-team this season due to salary cap restrictions. “He played for our reserves last week. He is training well and training hard, but there is no more movement there (at the moment).”