Inside Wigan Warriors’ meticulous preparations for Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford

[josie andrews]

Wigan Warriors opened their doors to the media on Thursday for their final preparations for the Old Trafford showdown against Hull KR.

Matt Peet’s side underwent a fascinating final run through at the Brick Community Stadium, with the club and its staff replicating an Old Trafford experience as close as possible.

With a selected 13 and team-mate opposition, Wigan walked out from the corner of the stadium like they will do so on Saturday just before the 6:00pm kick-off - with specifics including being told where their families will be sat at the Theatre of Dreams, to walking out to The Lathums, the Wigan band who will provide the pre-match entertainment in Manchester.

Coaching and backroom staff walked around the field with pyros ahead of ‘kick-off’, creating the same misty look that Saturday will likely bring - potentially impacting sight in the opening exchanges and certainly adding to the atmosphere.

Music blasted out from the PA systems at The Brick throughout - while the two sides lined-up as they will on Saturday ahead of kick-off for Jerusalem, this year performed by Laura Wright for an 11th time.

Chants from Wigan Warriors and Hull KR were also boomed around the stadium from the PA system, including ‘Cherry and White’ and ‘Red, Red Robin’.

“It’s important; all the timings and knowing what to do on game day so you can sort of chill out and let it run its course,” star full-back Jai Field said.

During the practise, staff also walked around the field with a speaker on loud to try to replicate the noise inside a near sell-out Old Trafford - set for its biggest crowd since 2017.

Like opponents Hull KR, the Warriors also trained with shorter in-goal areas in preparation for the smaller Old Trafford pitch.

“It’s loud in there, and sometimes you can’t hear the guy next to you speak or they can’t hear you. Having that in the run through, it makes a big difference,” Field added.

“It’s a big game, and hopefully it’s a sell-out. It’s going to be loud.”

It was a captivating watch from the sidelines, with Wigan Warriors bidding to make it a historic quadruple on Saturday and back-to-back Super League successes.

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... ht-4820926

[josie andrews]

Wigan Warriors ignoring 'outside noise' ahead of Grand Final as key man talks leaving a legacy

Come Saturday, Wigan Warriors prop Tyler Dupree knows every neutral’s second-favourite team will be Hull KR when they take on Matt Peet’s reigning champions at Old Trafford.

The England international is preparing to be the enemy at Super League’s showcase event in Manchester, with many rugby league supporters hoping a new name can be added to the title - while the Warriors bid to make it their seventh in the modern era.

Saturday marks Hull KR’s first Super League Grand Final appearance, while the Cherry and Whites are 80 minutes away from back-to-back success - and a historic quadruple in a calendar year!

“I don’t think anybody wants us to win it again; they want to see a new name on the trophy and that’s fair enough,” Dupree admits.

“But we’ll keep to ourselves, nothing from the outside will impact us and we’ll focus on the job.”

A win would mark an extraordinary quadruple for Matt Peet’s Warriors, with no team in Super League history having achieved the incredible feat before.

Prop Dupree has won every trophy available since making the move from Salford Red Devils midway through last season - currently on five successive triumphs – and has the long-term goals of leaving a legacy at the Brick Community Stadium, with constant reminders of the club’s successes of the past.

“It’s great to go back to Old Trafford again and have the chance to do it twice,” the 24-year-old continued, having started in the front-row in last year’s 10-2 victory over Catalans Dragons.

“I think more of the history side of things is spoken about. We’re all here to create history and we’ve got a great group here that want to be a part of Wigan’s history for a long time.

“You go around the place and you’re reminded of what’s been before you and you’re inspired to be a part of that.

“In a couple of years, I want to be one of the ones where kids are saying, ‘Tyler Dupree used to play here!’.

“I want to be known for being a part of a team that has dominated. It would be a great accolade for us as a team.”

https://www.wigantoday.net/sport/rugby- ... cy-4820053

[josie andrews]

Secret to Matt Peet's success as ordinary Wiganer on the cusp of extraordinary achievement

Matt Peet has been an evolutionary coach, but underpinning his greatness is something he was born into.

Matt Peet is at the forefront of a new Wigan Warriors dynasty. Seven trophies deep, less than three years since taking the job, it appears inevitable that he will eventually be considered the greatest coach in Wigan's proud history.

It's not by chance either. Peet has a wonderful team but he is a wonderful coach. He has brought in modern techniques and a fresh approach to how the game should be played. Beyond his obvious rugby nouse, he has implemented visualisation and meditation. He is a deep thinker of rugby but of people and mindsets too.

And yet, for all his qualities, there's a very simple one that is arguably the most important factor of all. Matt Peet is a Wiganer, and a damn proud one at that.

Four days after Peet was appointed as head coach of his hometown club, he was at Old Trafford to watch St Helens, Wigan's fierce rivals, win a third successive Grand Final. After the game, a supporter approached him for a photo before asking if they'd end Saints' reign of terror. "We'll do 'em next year," was his response. Spoken like a true Wiganer.

Peet can't help but crack a smile when reminded of the interaction as he swings in his chair.

"I think that was a lesson to me about what to say to people," he jokes.

But fundamentally, it's that understanding of what it means to represent Wigan Warriors and what the club stands for that has been as important as everything else. By design, coaching is a lifestyle job but the intensity of that is ramped up when its your hometown, boyhood club. He has to give more time up for a supermarket trip to factor in the people wanting a natter about the previous game, he's well aware of the passion the people have for the town.

Peet gets it. And with that, his players do too.

"First and foremost, it helps," Peet says when asked if a lifelong association is a benefit or a burden. "You understand the DNA of the club. You soak it up and it becomes a part of you. It does have its challenges, probably more for your friends and family than for you. There really is no respite if they want it.

"But even that's a positive, it drives me to be better, I know what's at stake for my family. That's the hand I've been dealt and I embrace it.

"I do worry sometimes when the kids go to high school, they're in primary at the minute and it's fun, but as they get older there'll be times where they hear things they don't like and it's something we'll have to deal with as a family. But hopefully we've got thick skins."

There's a reality that comes with being at Wigan and it's that everyone wants you to lose. In reality, it is a compliment to their success, both historically and in the present, that Hull KR will go into Saturday's Grand Final as the strong favourites among the neutrals.

"It comes with coaching the club I'm coaching," he admits. "I don't know any different. Playing for Wigan schoolboys or coaching Wigan academy, there's always an expectation and you just learn to live with it.

"It's a privilege really and there's a story to every game. There's been a lot of talk within the sport about seeing a new name on the trophy and it's a fact that neutrals might want to see that. But that's fine, we're OK with that."

The stakes are enormous on Saturday. Wigan can equal a record held by St Helens of winning six consecutive trophies if they win, an accolade that would make their status as one of British rugby league's greatest-ever sides undisputable. For Hull KR, they have a chance to end a near 40-year wait for major silverware.

With that comes pressure. But to Peet, pressure is fun.

https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/ru ... r-30121304

[josie andrews]

That’s the truth’ – Kruise Leeming on Wigan Warriors’ secret to success, quadruple whispers and 2022 memories

Kruise Leeming knows what it feels like to step off the team bus at Old Trafford ahead of a Grand Final.

The Wigan Warriors man knows how it feels to walk out of the tunnel in the corner of ground in front of more than 60,000. He knows what it feels like to hear that first Grand Final whistle and he knows how that first touch of the ball feels in such a pressure environment.

Unfortunately for the hooker, he also knows how it feels to stand back and watch as the winning team lifts the Super League trophy on the Old Trafford.

That experience came back in 2022 when Leeming represented Leeds Rhinos in the Grand Final against St Helens. The hooker did get a try in the game, but Rohan Smith’s Leeds were powerless to prevent the Saints from picking up their fourth title in a row.

Two years on, the England international is preparing to walk out at Old Trafford once more, this time in the cherry and white of Wigan, who will be facing Hull KR for the chance to complete what would be an historic quadruple.

Leeming could be expected to cast his mind back to the miserable day 24 months ago then, as he prepares to step onto the turf at the Theatre of Dreams once more. He won’t be, though, with the hooker looking at this Grand Final through a different lens entirely.

Indeed, so much has changed for the 29-year-old since he was last at Old Trafford, with a spell in the NRL with Gold Coast Titans coming prior to his move to Wigan ahead of the 2024 season, it’s hardly surprising that the 2022 date feels like a lifetime ago. As such, those memories don’t come racing to the surface when he looks ahead to Saturday evening and the challenge that awaits.

No, it feels like a different chapter,” Leeming told Serious About RL when asked if he would look back to 2022 this week. “It’s almost like I’ve never been here, it does feel like I’ve never played here. That’s the truth.

“I was in different circumstances at a different club and it had a different feel. I don’t know why but this feels like the first time being here and it’s about learning the lessons from the season.

“It’s a different group, they play different styles and they believe in different things. That’s not to say what Leeds believed in was wrong, it’s just different and it feels different. It will be a clean slate walking out.”

Leeming probably hasn’t had it all his own way since joining Wigan last winter, but it’s fair to say that prior to this weekend’s clash with the Robins, he couldn’t have wished for his first season to go any better. Matt Peet’s side started the campaign by beating Penrith Panthers to win the World Club Challenge and since then they have won the Challenge Cup and the League Leaders’ Shield.

As such, Wigan find themselves on the cusp of becoming the first side in the Super League era to win all four trophies in a calendar year. That achievement is not lost on Leeming, with the playmaker admitting it has been spoken about quietly behind the scenes at Robin Park.

“I think it’s something that we’ve spoken about. We’d be lying if we said it was something we hadn’t spoken about,” he added. “I think it’s just about doing the best you can on the day, every day, don’t look too far into the future, just get the job done each and every day and that will lead to the bigger picture of success.

“We have a really tough game this week in Hull KR, they were probably better than us the last time we played them so we know its going to be a tough game.”

So, as someone who is still relatively new to the Wigan Warriors organisation, what does Leeming believe is the key to the club’s remarkable success?

I think people see Wigan as this well-oiled machine, which it is, but I think the thing that has surprised me is how much trust we’ve got within the players and how much trust Matty puts in us to do the right thing,” he said.

“It’s not a dictatorship, everyone has their say and everyone is free to do what they want to do within this system. When you have a team full of good people that want to help each other it’s a very powerful thing.”

He added: “He’s a great coach and he allows you to be unapologetically yourself. That means a lot to a player if he gives you the backing to be yourself because there’s so much exterior noise around professionals and sometimes you get in a rut of listening to other people and you forget who you are yourself.

“Matty reminds us who we are and gives us the freedom to be ourselves. That’s when you can play your best.”

https://www.seriousaboutrl.com/thats-th ... ies-98043/