Matty Peet hopes Wigan can follow St Helens’ lead and bring down the world’s finest but concedes they still have plenty to do to earn the right again.
The Warriors boss remains full of praise for four-peat Super League champions Saints after Saturday’s epic World Club Challenge success over NRL premiers Penrith. It gave all of the competition in the UK a shot in the arm and was the first time a British side had won in Australia since Wigan’s famous 1994 victory against Brisbane. But it also provided Challenge Cup holders Wigan - second favourites for Super League - a timely reminder of how far they need to go, given they suffered a poor 27-18 opening day loss at Hull KR just hours later.
Peet said: “Every team and every coach would love to play in the World Club Challenge and test themselves against the best in the world. But first of all you have to earn the right to do it. I do think anyone in England watching the World Club Challenge at the weekend would love to get an opportunity to do that down the line.
“And I think St Helens getting the win over there should pave the way for more contests in the future."
He added: "Defensively we were poor against KR and we got a few things out in the open about that yesterday. It was an honest chat.”
Wigan last won the World Club Challenge in 2017 when they defeated Cronulla. That year, it was briefly part of a series when Brisbane also faced Warrington in the UK. Peet would like to see it expand again but admitted: “It’s more on the NRL having an appetite for it all. There’d have to be incentives for them. You’d certainly get a take-up from this side of the globe. It’s just whether they’re up for it or not. I always think the more international competition - whether that’s club or the national teams - the better for the game.”
Peet says he’ll keep the same 21-man squad for Friday’s visit of Wakefield. But he’s vowed to shake things up and make changes to his matchday 17 against Mark Applegarth’s side. At 38, and by just a few months, Trinity’s new boss has usurped Peet as Super League’s youngest head coach.
However, Applegarth has spoken about how he has lent on the Wigan chief - who enjoyed such success in his first year as a head coach last term - at times as he starts out. Peet added: “I consider Mark a friend. He supports me and hopefully I can offer him some support at times. I think the more of that for all coaches the better really. I look forward to catching up with him on Friday and resuming that friendship during the season.
"I’m proud to see him do well. They played with a lot of determination against Catalans. You could see some combinations they’ve got that looked very dangerous. The half-backs are certainly a threat and they have good players. I read Mark’s comments about the unforced errors and I’d go along with that. If they’d held the ball a bit better and for longer they could have won that one.”
