Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet delivers honest assessment after St Helens win - 'A little bit loose'

Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet admitted his side were not at their best despite claiming a convincing 38-16 victory over St Helens, insisting there is still plenty to improve ahead of the closing stages of the season.

The Warriors ran in six tries to secure another derby win at the Brick Community Stadium, but Peet felt his players lacked consistency with the ball after taking control of the contest.

“I’m pleased with the two points,” he said. “I think we came through healthy, which is always important.

“Patches of the game, I thought we put our game together, but we weren’t consistent enough, I would say, particularly with the ball, particularly when we got in front. I thought we got a little bit loose, but I kind of get it. Getting Bev (French) and Brad (O’Neill) off at the end probably put us under a bit of pressure, but there were reasons for that.

“I thought the start, we had elements of bad luck, the Taylor Kerr penalty, the Liam Marshall penalty, they were penalties, but we hadn’t done a lot wrong, and then we needed to defend them better with a bit more resilience, and in the second half, we probably showed that.”

The derby came just more than 24 hours after St Helens announced head coach Paul Rowley had stepped down from his role, although Peet insisted Wigan’s preparations remained focused on themselves.

“We weren’t in yesterday (Thursday), so we hadn’t really spoken about it,” he said.

“Firstly, I think it’s important to say, the first thing when you hear that noise, you hope Paul’s alright, I’m sure he will be, a strong character, very experienced, and there’s a competition and a rivalry, but it just reminds you of the human side of it, so hopefully he’s alright.

“I was very shocked by the news yesterday, and didn’t want to spend too much time thinking about it or talking about it. You’re aware that you’re going to get the so-called response from the playing group, and I thought Saints did come and play with a lot of energy and desperation, which we had to weather, but I think it was important all week that we concentrated on ourselves.

“Even the fact that they are light on troops, having a bad time with injuries at the moment, so to get caught up in thinking about that would’ve been a waste of energy.

“I do think that maybe contributed to us being a little bit loose tonight, subconsciously maybe, as much as we talk about it not being, I think there was evidence of that, but hopefully we can put that behind us.”

Peet also admitted the occasion felt different to previous meetings between the two rivals.

“A little bit,” he said when asked if the derby felt flat. “We’ve just mentioned it in the changing rooms then, it didn’t feel like a derby and if I’m thinking that, maybe the players have picked up on a little bit of that, but credit to St Helens, I thought they were very brave, very competitive.

“Honestly, we’ve just spoken about it with the lads, they’re always quite chilled out, but it’s important that we don’t take it for granted, not just the win, but where we’ve come over the last however many years since we couldn’t buy a win against them, and now we’re enjoying some success.

“Although it’s important we don’t take it for granted and we still acknowledge it, we’re going to have to be much better than that to get to where we want to be.

“They’re having a tough time with injuries and there is no shying away from that, is there? But I thought they came and put in a brave performance, they troubled us, particularly early on when it took us a while to work out what they were going to throw at us, which was a little bit different.”

Peet also confirmed teenage prop Shea O’Connor was all good after leaving the field for a head injury assessment late on.

“He’s alright, yeah,” he added. “He said it was something to do with his tooth.”

Next up for the Warriors is another derby on Friday night as they make the short trip across the borough to Leigh Leopards.