Wigan Warriors dealt Bevan French blow as Matt Peet offers injury update

Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet has spoken ahead of Saturday’s game against Castleford Tigers and provided a mixed injury update.

After the shock loss against Wakefield Trinity on Friday night, all eyes were on winger Liam Marshall after he limped off with what appeared to be a lower leg issue.

It had been feared that Marshall may miss game time, however, Matt Peet has confirmed that won’t be the case with Wigan Warriors’ all-time leading Super League try scorer in line to make the trip to Wheldon Road.

Offering an injury update to club media, Peet explained that the winger “was a bit banged up after the game” but insisted that he “should be alright”, in a welcome update for Cherry and White fans.

Jacob Douglas would have been an obvious option to replace him but rugby union signing Christian Wade is another, and Peet offered praise for him after his recent performances in the reserves.

“He’s been outstandingly good in practice but more so around the environment,” Peet said of the veteran winger.

“He seems very popular amongst the group and he was good for the Reserves at the weekend. We’ll keep monitoring him through training and the Reserves over the next week or two, but he could well feature in the squad as he isn’t a million miles away.”

Wigan Warriors star Bevan French suffers calf injury

Whilst the update on Wade’s progress and confirmation that Liam Marshall should be fit to play against Castleford was positive news, there was some that fans won’t have wanted to hear.

That’s the fact that star man Bevan French has suffered an injury and looks set for a short spell on the sidelines.

The 2023 Man of Steel winner has not played as much lately anyway, rested initially before picking up a niggle and it seems that niggle has reoccurred.

“Bevan’s calf has tightened up again so that’s going to need a look at,” the Wigan Warriors boss confirmed.

“It won’t be a worry. There’s a chance he has re-strained his calf, but we’ll wait until we get the scan results back. It would be a recurrence of a two-to-three-week injury, but hopefully it’s nothing more than that.”

Wigan missed French for periods last year and that allowed for Jack Farrimond to shine so his absence would easily be remedied in the short-term, with the Warriors likely priority being that he is 100% as they approach the play-offs in three months time.