Wigan Warriors Head Coach Explains Absence of Key Duo in Victory over Castleford
Wigan, [DATE] – In the aftermath of Wigan Warriors’ 36-14 triumph over Castleford Tigers at the DW Stadium, head coach Matt Peet shed light on the absence of two key players from his lineup – fullback Jai Field and starting hooker Brad O’Neill.
Peet revealed that the decision to rest the duo was a strategic one, with the newly-introduced match limits in mind. While O’Neill has been playing outstandingly well for the Warriors, Peet opted to provide more game time to another talented hooker, Kruise Leeming, who has fully recovered from injury.
“Brad O’Neill has been playing outstandingly well for us,” Peet stated in his post-match press conference. “But we do have another very good hooker, and we wanted to give Kruise more game time now he’s fully recovered from injury, and to somewhat protect Brad and keep him fresh with a long season ahead.”
Peet further explained that there is a limit on minutes for O’Neill due to his age, and the decision to rest him was a way to “keep him safe, fresh and look after him” as the Warriors will need him throughout the season.
As for Jai Field, the Wigan coach confirmed that the livewire fullback was nursing a minor niggle, which he has been dealing with over the last couple of weeks. However, Peet assured that the issue is not serious, and Field could have played against Castleford, but the team opted to give his body a rest to allow the injury to fully heal.
“Jai has been sort of nursing a bit of muscle tightness, he could play,” Peet said. “But so far we’ve taken a couple of opportunities to just let him rest a little bit, and he’s coming towards the back of that now. He’ll put it to bed in this little rest that he gets.”
Despite the absence of Field and O’Neill, Wigan still managed to secure a convincing victory over Castleford, which Peet attributed to the team’s ability to overcome the opposition’s “level of intent and effort and energy.”
The Wigan boss praised his players for their resilience in the face of Castleford’s challenge, and expressed satisfaction with the opportunity to provide more game time to other members of the squad, such as Ryan Hampshire and Zach Eckersley.
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