Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet gracious in Wakefield Trinity defeat - 'Made us look ordinary'

Matt Peet was gracious in defeat after Wigan Warriors’ treble hopes were ended by Wakefield Trinity, admitting Daryl Powell’s side ‘made us look ordinary’ in their 33-6 semi-final victory.

The Warriors were well-beaten at the Brick Community Stadium on Saturday evening as Wakefield booked their place in the Super League Grand Final for the first time in the competition’s history.

Wigan had already lifted the Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield this season, but their hopes of adding the Super League title were ended by a dominant Trinity display.

Peet was quick to praise Wakefield for their performance and felt they executed the game plan better than his own side.

“Well-beaten all ends up - it was an outstanding performance from Wakefield,” said Peet.

“All the threats we knew they had, they got every facet of their game right, and we didn’t.

“Their shape was good, they ran hard and defended tough, and it made us look ordinary, and we’re not, so it’s a credit to them.”

Wigan were still within two points at half-time, trailing 8-6, but Wakefield scored four tries in the space of 12 minutes in the second half to take control of the contest.

Peet admitted there were areas of Wigan’s performance they would reflect on and wish they had done better, particularly their work in the physical battle.

“There are things in there that we’ll look at in terms of our physicality,” said Peet. “More often than not, this game comes back to winning collisions on both sides of the ball.

“There are plenty of things you could pick into, but we were just outplayed, to be honest.

“I thought once it went to a few scores during that period when we were down to 12 (men), we started chasing it, and the game was done then, to be honest.”

Wigan were reduced to 12 men early in the second half when Adam Keighran was sin-binned for a tip tackle on Wakefield’s Isaiah Vagana.

Trinity took full advantage, with Tom Johnstone scoring shortly afterwards before Jack Sinfield, Corey Hall and Ky Rodwell added further tries.

Peet felt Wakefield had already been the better side before the game opened up, despite Wigan going into the break only two points behind.

“It was just a proper game,” Peet said when asked of his feelings at half-time.

“They weathered the storm pretty well when we had a number (following Jazz Tevaga’s sin-bin), and I thought they were the better side of it, to be honest, but I was confident that if we fixed a few things up that the game would swing back our way, and we just never did that, which is credit to them really - they did a lot very well.”

Wakefield will face Warrington Wolves in Saturday’s Grand Final at Old Trafford, with a new name guaranteed to be etched onto the Super League trophy.