2024
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet says he’s ‘amazed’ by the ongoing gamesmanship saga in Super League, insisting he doesn’t believe anything will change between now and the end of the current campaign.
Over the last few weeks, the touch paper has been lit with fury from numerous angles about players potentially staying down and seeking treatment after contact to try and encourage referees to take action.
Wigan themselves were embroiled in the saga last Friday night when prop Tyler Dupree required some treatment during their top-of-the table clash Hull KR following a high shot from Jai Whitbread.
The Robins forward was ultimately sin-binned, with the Warriors going on to win that match and leapfrog their opponents to sit top of the ladder heading into the final two rounds of the regular campaign.
Post-match, KR boss Willie Peters was furious about the decision to show yellow to Whitbread and the manner in which it had come about, suggesting players staying down is ‘creeping into the game’.
Peet got his chance to have his say on the ongoing saga in Tuesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference looking ahead to his side’s home clash with Leeds Rhinos in Round 26.
And the Warriors boss said: “My thoughts are really clear. Nothing’s changed since Round 1. I’m amazed how it seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment.
“I can think of examples in every round of Super League this year, and it isn’t going to change now before the end of Super League (season), so our approach to it is to fix our own discipline and take it out of the refs hands, keep it out of the video refs hands.
“We do that by getting our tackle height right, and it’s a big challenge, it is difficult. I think we’ve had our fair share of cards through the year, so we’ve had to look at ourselves and try to control the controllables.”
The Cherry and Whites are very close to the top of the rankings in terms of both cards received this year and games missed by players through bans.
Peet insists nothing will change until at least next year, adding: “For me, I don’t think anyone wants that to be the talking point and I don’t think anyone wants to see players staying down, but it’s difficult to question whether they’re injured or not when they’ve been hit in the head.
“Our approach is just more to get our own tackle technique in order. The only way to stop it from happening is to not concern yourselves with what the opponent’s doing or the referees, but to try and get your tackle height right.
“We’re all trying our hardest. I think every club’s trying their hardest and every club’s suffered some frustrating moments, but I don’t think it’s something that’ll get fixed until the end of this season.”
