Daryl Powell responds to Matt Peet’s comments following Matty Nicholson signing

Josh McAllister
Daryl Powell

Warrington head coach Daryl Powell has responded to comments made by Wigan boss Matt Peet following the signing of young forward Matty Nicholson. 

Warriors boss Matt Peet admitted that he felt “really disappointed” by Nicholson’s decision to leave the club to join their rivals at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Peet also said he thinks it would be ‘demoralising to work in Warrington’s academy’ after signing another Wigan academy product.

However, Powell has dismissed comments about his side’s academy and says he doesn’t ‘see the problem’ with the signing of the 18-year-old.

Daryl Powell responds to Peet’s comments

Asked why he was keen to make the signing, Powell said: “If you look at Matty Peet’s comments, you can probably see why we were keen to get hold of him.

“He’s (Peet) not happy about the situation but he’s in the last year of his contract. It’s a competitive market. I don’t know what the problem is.

“He’s available. And we see him as a high quality young player who is going to be outstanding for us in the coming years.”

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Academy dig 

Responding to Peet’s comments about his side’s academy, Powell added: “I think our academy and the people that are in it at the moment are absolutely superb.

“Our scholars beat St Helens last night, our academy beat St Helens the other week. The people running the academy are far from demoralised.

“They love the club and they’re working so hard. You can see in our of all academy players and teams at the moment, they are absolutely superb.

“Moving forward, I think the players that come through our academy are going to be exactly the right kind of people. They are going to be driven and focussed just as all the coaches and staff are.

“I don’t know if it’s a great comment from him. We’ll leave it at that. I think we’ll look after ourselves and keep driving what we’re doing at the club. It’s a special club going big places.”

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