Wigan Warriors coach hails 'phenomenal' duo after St Helens win as Matt Peet's side overcome adversity

That’s the view of Wigan coach Matt Peet, who praised his wing pair for the work they got through with their carries in backfield to help get their depleted pack on the front foot.

Wigan were already without starting front-rowers Luke Thompson (calf) and Ethan Havard (hamstring) heading into the derby and the middle unit suffered further blows before a ball was kicked, with powerhouse Patrick Mago withdrawing in the warm-up due to a hamstring injury. Tyler Dupree also left the action towards the latter stages of the first half after failing a head injury assessment.

The aforementioned injury blows meant Liam Byrne, Sam Walters and Harvie Hill all played longer minutes in the front-row, with loose forward Kaide Ellis playing the full 80 minutes and Brad O’Neill even having a spell in the middle towards the end of the game as Kruise Leeming stayed on at hooker.

And with that in mind, Miski and Marshall continuously put their hands up to help their forward pack out with carries as the Warriors claimed a 24-14 victory.

“He was outstanding,” Peet said when asked about Miski, who scored two of Wigan’s four tries. “As I mentioned about losing the front-rowers, there are certain players who, when ball movement becomes less, the strength of carry becomes even more important.

“Probably (Agnatius) Paasi’s significance in the game goes up for Saints, and Miski is probably is the same for us, where he is tough to tackle.

“I thought Abbas and Liam Marshall were phenomenal, Abbas will grab the headlines (because of his tries). They’ll never get a six-again those two, Abbas Miski and Liam Marshall, yet again no six-agains for us in the whole game, believe it or not.

“I just think it’s fascinating that we don’t get one and the way those two carry the ball and generate ruck speed, you’d think more would come of it, but I’m made up for Abbas.

“It was a tough game. I’m proud of the team, we overcame a bit of adversity which you kind of know is going to come, for either team, they are always those type of games with a few bumps in the road, but I’m really proud that we stuck together enough, but we’ve certainly got more in us.”

Peet also paid tribute to halfback Harry Smith, who delivered a man-of-the-match performance as he guided his side around the field in front of a sold-out crowd at the Brick Community Stadium.

“Harry is always very influential for us,” said Peet. “But I think when you see the weather close in like it did, we know that we can click into that sort of game as well, it has served us well in the past, and probably keeps the points down a little bit, but I thought we were in control throughout.”

Next up for the Warriors is a trip to the MKM Stadium to face Hull FC in Round Nine of Super League on Sunday, April 27.