Matt Peet has offered his verdict following Wigan Warriors’ thrilling 16-14 win over St Helens to round out the 2026 Magic Weekend event.
The Warriors held off a late Saints comeback, and breathed a huge sigh of relief when Jackson Hastings’ last-minute penalty goal sailed wide of the mark.
Tries came through Adam Keighran, Zach Eckersley and Jai Field, with three scores being enough to get the two points over a resilient Saints side.
“[It was a] funny game,” Peet said to Sky Sports. “[There was] not much flow in it.
“Very stop-start, lots of decisions being made. I’m just extremely proud of the group. There’s some young lads through there.
Our academy staff, John Duffy, Shane Eccles, Matty Smith, and all the other coaches, the pathway deserves so much credit. Some of the lads who we had playing, the minutes they played, some of them out of position, but they understand the characteristics a lot.”
The character and identity of Wigan was certainly on show this evening, with the middle unit especially being made up of homegrown talents, who will have grown up watching the Wigan-Saints derbies of old.
With Wigan trailing 8-6 at half-time, Peet was asked what his half-time message was that inspired his side to go on and get the victory.
“Not too much,” he replied. “We felt the game never really got going in the first half, and it continued in the second.
“We were chasing a bit of flow, in that, not giving up yardage errors. We were very comfortable defending the way St Helens play, as long as we could keep that control of the play ball.
“Simple things, but ultimately the reminder was connection, what we stand for.”
Wigan lost young winger Nathan Lowe to a nasty hamstring injury in the game, whilst Ethan Havard failed a HIA and Junior Nsemba also missed the final 20 minutes due to a hamstring problem.
On Lowe, who needed to be stretechered down the tunnel, Peet said: “I think he’s all right. I don’t know too much.
“Credit to the St Helens fans. A standing ovation there, and I think it was one of those games that everyone admired, both sets of players, the competitors involved. [It’s a ] credit to the two clubs and to Super League.”
