Wigan will face a young Hull KR side on Thursday night.
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet.(Image: SW PIX)
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet believes Hull KR are ‘entitled’ to field whatever squad they like – and the same goes for any side in the Super League competition.
The Robins will send a young and inexperienced side to Wigan on Thursday for what will be their fourth game in 14 days – a situation Peet ’empathises’ with.
That could see as many as six players make their club debuts, and as many as eight make their Super League debuts.
Ironically, it’s a role reversal of the squad Wigan sent to Rovers one week before their Challenge Cup final meeting in May, with the Warriors fielding a youthful side in a 62-4 defeat.
That decision paid off for Wigan, who claimed the cup with a bulldozing 40-10 victory at Wembley, with Peet taking no issues with the way KR and coach Willie Peters are going about their business.
“I think every coach is entitled, and every club is entitled, to field the team that they feel is going to get the job done for the long term as well as the short term,” Peet said.
“I can empathise with what they’ve been through, the fixture pile-up and the pressure that puts on players physically and mentally and staff.
“I 100 per cent can empathise with that and like I said, Willie has every right to pick the team that is right for his group and until you’re in his or anyone else’s shoes, it’s impossible to pass judgement, really. I get it.
“We can’t let it affect us, as they didn’t let it affect them when we went there. I thought they were very professional. I admired the way that they went about that and now listen, people will make comments, but I empathise wholeheartedly.”
The challenge for Wigan is to now return serve in Super League and continue a winning run that has seen them win their last 13 games since the cup final.
“We’ve already completed our week’s training and then we’ve seen the squad,” Peet added. “We can’t let that effect us. We’ve just got to concentrate on getting our own game right and doing the things that we’ve done in practice.
“It’s our job to keep looking for improvements. There have been different sorts of wins and different sorts of performances. You try to treat them all the same really and keep moving forward.”