Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet has moved to explain why he made the decision to leave Jai Field out of the clash with Leeds Rhinos on Saturday night.
Field picked up a hamstring injury last week in the Challenge Cup defeat to Hull FC and was forced to leave the pitch in the first half of that contest. As such, he was a doubt all week, with Peet being unable to clear things up in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
However, the full-back was named in Peet’s 21-man squad and that gave Wigan fans hope that he could be fit enough to play against the Rhinos. That never turned out to be the case, though, with Bevan French asked to play full-back and Field left out of the fold altogether.
As such, speaking after the game, the head coach cleared up Field’s situation, suggesting he wasn’t willing to risk the Australian at Headingley despite the injury being a minor one.
“The fact is the scan was clear but he’s still a bit tight,” Peet told Sky Sports. “I’m not having that on my conscience to put him out there tonight.
“I’d be foolish (to do so) at this time of year. It would be good to have him out there but it’s a long season.
“He probably wasn’t that close but I’d expect him to feature very soon.”
Peet did look to bring Abbas Miski back into the line-up this week after struggling with injury and he even named the winger in the starting line-up. However, Miski pulled out of the Wigan Warriors warm-up and was replaced with Jacob Douglas.
Miski hasn’t featured since the win over Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas with Peet previously outlining that he had struggled with swelling around an old injury. However, the head coach has now revealed that he needs a surgical procedure which needs carrying out sooner rather than later.
