Following Castleford Tigers’ victory, Wigan Warriors coach explains  Jai Field Brad O’Neill’s absence.

The absence of vital players Brad O’Neill and Jai Field from the Wigan Warriors’ victory over the Castleford Tigers was explained by coach Matt Peet.

Peet’s starting hooker O’Neill and livewire fullback Field were conspicuous absences from their starting lineup, which defeated Castleford 36-14 at the DW Stadium.

Speaking at the press conference following the game, Peet stated that both players were rested because of the recently implemented match limitations for O’Neill and Field, who has been taking care of a minor niggle for the past several weeks.

Brad O’Neill has been playing incredibly well for the team, Peet said.
However, we do have another excellent hooker, so we decided to protect Brad and keep him fresh for the whole of the season by giving Kruise Leeming more playing time now that he has fully recovered from his injury.

Because of his age, he has less minutes than others. Thus, it’s a means of keeping him healthy, protected, and taken care of because we will require him.

Matt Peet, the manager of the Wigan Warriors, updates Jai Field
Field could have played against Castleford, according to Peet, but they decided to give his body a break so it could heal completely.

“Jai has been sort of nursing a bit of muscle tightness; he could play,” Peet continued. However, we have so far given him a few opportunities to simply take a small break, and he is already beginning to recover from that. When he gets a moment of quiet, he will put it to bed.

“We felt that taking this opportunity to give games to people who deserve them as well was the right thing to do.” More for Kruise (Leeming), Ryan (Hampshire) some game time as we’ll need him, and then an opportunity to have a closer look at Zach (Eckersley).
“I felt Castleford brought a level of intent, effort, and intensity right from the start, and we were forced to work harder and yet finished the task. That was something we had to get past.

“They scored a try there, against the flow of play, but it adds to the challenge, and we focused on improving the game and winning,” the player said.