Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet explained the absence of several key men following their win over Salford Red Devils and why he opted to rotate his squad, with a number of youngsters having ‘earned’ the right to play.
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Peet made a total of five changes to his side that won away at Catalans Dragons for their 46-6 win over Salford Red Devils at the Salford Community Stadium on Friday evening.
Jacob Douglas, Jack Farrimond, Tyler Dupree, Harvie Hill and Kian McDermott came into the matchday 17, with the latter making his first-team debut for his hometown club. The quintet replaced Jake Wardle, Kruise Leeming (illness), Sam Walters (fibula), Luke Thompson (ribs) and Liam Farrell (knock) in Peet’s side.
There are a couple of positional changes too, with prop Ethan Havard moving into the back-row. Farrimond and Harry Smith started in the halves and on the bench was superstar Bevan French, who was an unused sub in the end.
Explaining the decision to start Havard in the back-row, Peet explained: “To be honest, Faz (Liam Farrell) has been carrying a bit of a knock for a while, so we wanted to rest him, but then obviously we also lost Sam Walters and Luke Thompson, who would be our next back-row choices, so I did have to give it some thought, and that’s why Kian (McDermott) came onto the bench, because he trains in the back-row a bit, but we just thought Ethan to start the game, with a bit more experience and physicality, and I thought he acquitted himself well.
“Ethan was really excited about the challenge when I spoke to him in the week, and I don’t see why he couldn’t do it again, to be honest.”
England international hooker Brad O’Neill played his first full 80 minutes of the year in his eighth appearance following his return of his ACL injury back in March.
“Kruise (Leeming) was supposed to be on the bench, but he was poorly,” Peet explained. “We weren’t going to play Bev, but Kruise has been struggling with a bit of illness.
“Brad’s always keen to stay on the field anyway, so it was a good opportunity for him, and I thought he acquitted himself well, particularly defensively.”
Apart from the aforementioned Leeming (illness) and Farrell (knock), the likes of Wardle and French were rested, but Peet was keen to give a chance to academy products Farrimond and Douglas, who both got on the scoresheet and put in stellar performances.
Asked if the others were just rested, Peet replied: “A bit of that, and just odd bangs and bruises that we know lads are carrying, which won’t do them any harm to take a week off them.
“And more so, the lads who got an opportunity, the likes of Jack (Farrimond) and Jacob (Douglas), they’ve earned it, they’ve been working hard, and we’re going to need them later in the year, so it was a good opportunity to get them out there.”
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