Matt Peet clears air with Lee Briers following ‘identity’ jibes as FaceTime revealed

Matt Peet has revealed the air was soon cleared with good friend Lee Briers over their weekly FaceTime catch-up following the St Helens assistant’s apparent jibe at the Wigan boss last week.

Back in May when the Warriors had beaten their old foes 32-0 in the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup, Peet’s post-match comments caused a storm as he stated on the BBC that Saints had ‘lost their identity’.

The Cherry and Whites head coach was alluding to what had happened a few weeks prior on Good Friday, when Saints’ hero in a Super League clash against them was hooker Bill Leyland.

He had signed on a one-week loan for that game alongside team-mate Jordan Dezaria when Paul Rowley’s Saints squad was thin on the ground through injuries.

Great rivals Wigan and Saints haven’t clashed since those initial comments were made, but a war of words has remained ongoing in the background.

‘We have a FaceTime most weeks and have a bit of a giggle. We’re very close mates, we speak quite often’

Last week ahead of Saints’ trip to Bradford Bulls, assistant Briers appeared to stoke the fire oncemore when he was asked about nine of the 21-man squad they had named being homegrown players.

He responded: “It’s not bad, considering we’ve not been promoting youth…. it’s not too bad in my eyes!”

Former Wales international Briers spent Peet’s first season at the helm of Wigan in 2022 as one of his assistants, helping the Warriors to lift the Challenge Cup.

Now an assistant to Rowley at Saints, he and Peet remain good friends, with the two sides set to clash at Magic Weekend on Sunday evening.

Peet was at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to carry out pre-Magic media duties, and made clear there was no ill-feeling on his part.

He said: “I Facetimed him (Briers) the other day. I didn’t think there was much in the comments, and having spoken to him, they weren’t directed at me.

“We have a FaceTime most weeks and have a bit of a giggle. We’re very close mates, we speak quite often.

“I didn’t think the comments were directed at me and that was the first thing he said, directed at you lot (the media) to be honest.”

Matt Peet addresses ‘identity’ comments

Just as was the case with counterpart Rowley, Wednesday afternoon’s media session on Merseyside saw Peet asked about the ‘identity’ comments he made back in May.

Wigan have gone on to win the Challenge Cup since then, and begin this weekend’s action sat two competition points outside of the top two.

Saints meanwhile occupy fifth spot as one of three teams in Super League locked together on 22 competition points.

Here’s what Peet was asked, and what he had to say on the comments from a couple of months ago…

Your comments about a loss of identity… those comments didn’t seem to go down too well at Saints, do you stand by what you said?

“I said what I said at that moment in that context after that game, and I own those comments.

“But as I mentioned, I’ve got plenty of respect for St Helens and everything they’ve done and everything they do.

“I’m very much looking forward now, it seems a long time ago that, and I look forward to trying to get a performance this weekend.”

Do you still feel like that? You’ve come down with a few injuries this week, but from the sounds of it, you won’t be calling on any loan players as they did on Good Friday?

“Each to their own… each to their own. I said that straight after the game, maybe not on TV, people have got different interpretations of what I said.

“But like I said, it’s in the past.”

Have you talked to Paul Rowley since (the comments were made)?

“Not yet, but I will do. I haven’t seen him yet, but I will do. There’s no hard feelings on my part.

“It’s not particularly against one individual, as I mentioned.”

Do you just want it to be the end of all this hype now, it’s a new game and a couple of months on?

“It was in that moment, in that context. Like I said, I’m looking forward now.”

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