Matt Peet reignites ‘dull’ St Helens rivalry with fiery ‘identity’ comments
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet
Finally, the rivalry between St Helens and Wigan Warriors has some spice about it again.
Anyone outside of the bubble would agree that years of public displays of respect, coaches going out for coffee together and words of admiration have completely sterilised one of the sport’s fiercest rivalries.
The sanitisation of the rivalry had become impossible to ignore. It’s edge had been dulled.
Privately, players knew it too. They have pointed out that the welcomes after arriving at their rivals ground have become less hostile, disdain has diluted.
Matt Peet ended all of that in one interview. His blistering comments, particularly those on the BBC ripped away the civility that had softened the rivalry for years.
The nature in which Peet did it was astonishing. To accuse St Helens of losing their identity was succinct, intentional and said with venom.
He went on to talk about the nature of Saints’ celebrations after their Good Friday victory. The fact it was won by a player Saints had loaned in for a week. Peet, a rugby league purist at heart, very clearly did not agree with the way St Helens went about things.
Whether he is right or wrong is irrelevant. The point is that when the two clubs meet again in 55 days time, the hype and excitement surrounding that fixture will be the most intense that we have seen between these two clubs in years.
And for that, Super League is better off. Few fixtures are unmissable, that one is now just that, and that’s exactly how it should be.
Did Peet have a point? Maybe. Drafting in players does feel very unlike St Helens. But then again, one-week loans were only introduced this year. Saints’ injury list was astonishingly large. But then, they did have options in their extended squad. On the flip side, it’s a results based business. You can go back and forth on it as much as you like.
But ultimately, yesterday felt like the moment the St Helens and Wigan rivalry got its teeth back, and the idea that this feud had mellowed died in one interview.
