Wigan Warriors were able to edge Hull KR 9-2 in a low-scoring Grand Final and pundit Jon Wilkin has picked out what could be the biggest motivating factor for the victory.
It goes without saying that the ultimate motivator was the fact that victory for Wigan Warriors meant that they became the first team in the summer era to win all four trophies in the same calendar year. The win also saw them pick up their sixth successive piece of silverware and the seventh in just 98 games for Matt Peet.
Peet is picking up silverware at a freakish rate with one trophy for every 14 games played and despite heading into Tuesday’s Rugby League Awards night with three pieces of silverware in 2024 already the Wigan boss was overlooked for Coach of the Year.
That accolade went to his Old Trafford counterpart Willie Peters, whom Peet confirmed he had voted for, but pundit Jon Wilkin has suggested that being overlooked could have been one extra factor to motivate Wigan Warriors for their history-making win.
Speaking post-game on Sky Sports, Wilkin posited: “Just think if you were Matt Peet and sat at the Man of Steel awards on Tuesday, and you’ve won every trophy that’s available, and you watch somebody else get in the Coach of the Year.
“You’ve got the best player in the comp in Bevan French (who also didn’t win) and I just wonder how much motivation they’ve got from all of that.”
How Wigan Warriors have embraced the ‘hunted’ tag
Credit: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
It’s hard to quantify the impact that such incidents would have but history will look back on the 2024 season as the one in which Wigan Warriors won everything there was to win as opposed to the season in which Hull KR claimed the Man of Steel and the Coach of the Year awards.
Wilkin would even suggest that Peet’s motivation to get one over on Hull KR stemmed from the team’s Round 25 clash in which many had suggested the Robins would have won if they’d kept 13 men on the pitch.
“Even when Jenna Brooks asked him about Hull KR being unlucky not to beat them in Round 25 and he really got his back up. I think that this Wigan side fully commands that respect.”
Presenter Brian Carney was quick to point out the fact that very few people outside of Wigan Warriors and Hull FC fans wanted a Wigan victory, something that Peet had spoken about and potentially used to help his team.
Carney noted: “There was another narrative he drove through the build-up this week and he was saying it himself that ‘We know everybody else wants Hull KR to win and that they’re everybody’s favourite, everybody wants the fairytale and we’re ok with that.’ ”
George Williams, a two-time Grand Finalist with Wigan Warriors, would sum it up best, stating: “When you’re at the top, you’re hunted. Everyone plays a little bit better each week. Everyone wants to beat Wigan. It’s a privilege. When you’re in the best, everybody wants to beat you and Wigan took that a bit personally this week.”
Whether they can keep that up in 2025 will be the big question but for now, Wigan Warriors are simply unstoppable.
