Breaking: Matt Peet’s glowing praise for his Wigan Warriors assistants with ‘fortunate’ admission aired
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet says he ‘can’t stress enough’ how fortunate he is to have his assistants around him, whilst providing an insight into what makes them tick.
Peet has been assisted by two club legends in Sean O’Loughlin, who works as a defence coach, and Tommy Leuluai, who heads up the attack, for several years now, with the trio firmly part of the club’s long-term plans, having signed contracts until at least the end of 2030, whilst John Duffy is a transition coach, overseeing a number of roles at the Warriors, particularly in youth development.
And it is clearly a coaching set-up that is working, with Wigan having won the last six major trophies on offer to them.
Peet spoke highly of O’Loughlin in particular after their 36-12 win over Hull FC last Sunday, praising the defensive side of Wigan’s game after limiting ‘one of the best attacking shapes’ in Super League, and hailing their ability to quickly transition from their solid defence into attack thanks to the work done by Leuluai.
“I just think Hull throw some of the best attacking shapes in the competition, which is a great challenge for a defence,” said Peet.
“I just know the way Sean shows the lads his information, got the right messages to the players, got the lads on the field, it’s all reliant on the buy-in from the lads, but he has got that relationship with them that they did it.
“It didn’t go perfectly for us but I thought we looked well-prepared and, like I mentioned at the weekend, those tries where you are defending one minute and teams force something, I think a lot of the time they come from a pressure built by a connected defence and I think that’s a good sign, they’re not just flukes.
“It’s a good example of the collaboration between Sean and Tommy that we can turn defence into attack quickly.
“I’m very fortunate to have the support staff I’ve got, with John Duffy, Tommy and Lockers.
“You ask about the young lads, and when they come in, John does a fantastic job with that. I can’t stress enough how fortunate I am to have those individuals around me. We don’t always get it right, but we enjoy trying our hardest, working together, and it has a great effect on the players.”
Peet’s side are just two points behind league leaders Hull KR, with one third of the season already in the books. The Wigan boss expects many twists and turns to come in regards to the league table, with the Warriors and Rovers battling it out for the League Leaders’ Shield last year before meeting in the Grand Final at Old Trafford, the Warriors ultimately clinching both trophies.
“I just think the season is a real test of durability,” Peet continued. “The challenge within that is that you’ve got to be playing well at the end as well, so there are two things going on, everyone would love to finish as high up in the table as possible, but it is also how you perform at the back end of the year.
“As far as who is on top at certain parts of the year, I just think everyone wants to be improving all the time. I remember teams last year saying it’s a foregone conclusion, and then we stumbled a little bit, and it made it competitive. I think there’ll be many twists in the tale for everyone this year.”
