Matt Peet has piled praise on former Wigan Warriors boss Adrian Lam for way he has turned Leigh Leopards’ fortunes around this season. Leigh go to the Brick Community Stadium on Tuesday night and they’ll be looking to pick up their fifth win in a row as they push to keep their play-off hopes alive.
The Leopards, who lost seven of their opening eight games in Super League, have had to do it tough this time around after a remarkable first season back in the top flight. However, they currently sit five points off the top six and they know a win over the Cherry and Whites would take them to within touching distance of a play-off place.
There’s still a long way to go this season, but the form they’re in will have the Leopards believing that they can complete the turnaround needed to reach their target. It’s that form that will have Wigan, who have lost two of their last three, wary of the challenge their local rivals pose as the Warriors look to return to the top of the Super League table.
However, Peet, who knows Lam well from his time in charge of the Warriors and clearly has a lot of respect for the Papa New Guinean, insists he was always confident that the Leigh boss would get the Leopards moving in the right direction once more.
“They’re an excellent team,” Peet said, per Wigan’s official site. “Every time we play them or every time I watch them – even when they have players missing – you can see what they’re about. They’re very physical and I think they’ve got some of the best attacking shape in the competition.
“Lammy has got them firing – we never doubted that he would – and I think it’s testament to him and his staff that they’ve managed to keep the team on track through those tough periods.”
Of course, Tuesday’s game is a rearranged fixture with Wigan’s World Club Challenge commitments in February seeing this one pushed back six months. As such, both Wigan and Leigh are approaching the contest on the back of a five-day turnaround and they’ll have a similar amount of time before the weekend’s games, too. It’s a tricky period for both clubs then, and Peet has opened up on its physical demands.
“It brings challenges physically and mentally for the players more than anything,” he added. “But it’s something that we knew was coming for a while, that we’ve been prepared for. We’ll see what we can learn from the challenge, see what we can take from the test, and ultimately it’s what we look at as three important games.
“I’d like to think we’ve done a good job around the players’ recovery – it’s something that we always take very seriously, but we’ve thrown some extra resources at it. When the players have been in it’s been short and focused, so they do get some time to freshen up with the family as well.”
