Wigan head coach Matt Peet is relishing the “fantastic” challenge of returning to Betfred Super League action, less than a week after their record-equalling fifth World Club Challenge win over Penrith at the DW Stadium.

Peet’s men meet Huddersfield back at home on Friday evening and he believes their ability to shut out the weekend’s raucous celebrations and maintain their unbeaten start to the new season will speak volumes for their chances of retaining the domestic title this season.

Peet said: “It’s a challenge we’re excited about and I think we’ll learn a lot from our performance this week – whether we’re capable of going again and maintaining our standards.

“We’ve spoken about the challenge of this week and everything that means in terms of coming out of Penrith and into Huddersfield and the threats that Huddersfield bring.

“We always get everything out in the open and it’s a fantastic challenge and one I’m glad we’ve got. We’re glad we played Penrith and it was a great game, and we’re glad to playing at home again in front of our own fans.”

Wigan will be without both Mike Cooper and Kruise Leeming for the clash with the Giants.

Leeming is expected to miss at least the next two weeks with a foot injury, meaning a rare return to the first-team squad for Tom Forber.

Peet joined his players for a celebratory day out on Sunday but was quick to return to the reality of plotting further improvements with the ambition of making nights like the sold-out Penrith fixture a more permanent affair.

“I feel very proud,” added Peet. “I feel like that’s why you’re involved at a club like this and the reason the fans turn out in the numbers they do, because they love the big nights and the big occasions.

“I feel like we have to build on that and make sure we have more nights like that, both for our club and the British game.

“Hopefully it impacts us and we learn from it and it makes us better players. I would expect for players and coaches to come out of a game like that improved.

“The challenge now is to back it up with another quality performance.”

Wigan head coach Matt Peet shrugged off suggestions of a seismic shift in rugby league’s balance of power, despite his side’s dramatic World Club Challenge win over triple defending NRL champions Penrith at a sold-out DW Stadium.

Wigan’s 16-12 triumph, which was confirmed when Taylan May’s potentially match-equalling try on the hooter was ruled out by a matter of millimetres, marked the first time in 16 years that English clubs have claimed back-to-back wins over their Australian counterparts.

The big-money razzmatazz of the NRL – which kicks off with an historic season-opener in Las Vegas next weekend – has often been regarded as a source of envy, but Peet is adamant the constant comparisons with the game Down Under are doing the English game a disservice.

“I don’t think it is a matter of comparison,” said Peet, for whom victory completed his fairytale rise through the Wigan coaching ranks and added the sport’s only global club honour to recent Challenge Cup and Grand Final successes.

“The NRL is an unbelievable competition, it’s got so much going for it, but we know what we’ve got in this country and we should take more pride in it.

“We talk too much about what they think of us. We should just be concerned with what we think of ourselves.

“We watch their games and we learn from it and we admire it. But we have got a special competition ourselves with some special individuals in it and we should just talk about that.”

Peet’s side held firm in the face of relentless Penrith pressure, snatching an opening try through Abbas Miski then regaining their lead through Kruise Leeming after Penrith talisman Nathan Cleary had put his side in front for the first time.

Penrith full-back Dylan Edwards restored his side’s lead in a thrilling, see-saw encounter, but Jake Wardle wriggled over early in the second half to restore Wigan’s advantage before Jai Field dumped May into touch when he looked a near certainty to level the scores.

Bevan French was denied a potential match-winning try by a slim offside call then Wigan were forced to live on their nerves when May looked to have reached the corner as the seconds ticked down.

Vanquished Penrith head coach Ivan Cleary, whose starting line-up featured 10 of the players who had also been edged out by St Helens in Sydney last year, conceded the result reflected a further step towards parity between the two competitions.

“We’ve always realised that the top teams in Super League are very good. Probably it’s the strength in depth where the NRL is a little different in that sense, but I hope tonight’s result is only going to help,” said Cleary.

“I feel like the best teams can match each other, but I’m not sure about the rest.

“One really good thing about the NRL is you never get an easy game and that’s probably the difference in the competitions.”

Wigan will return to more mundane matters when they host Huddersfield in their first home game of the Super League season next Friday, but the epic manner of their victory has only fuelled Peet’s desire for more success.

The rare sight of sold-out signs around the DW Stadium reflected a continued passion for the club in a town weaned on famous rugby league nights, not least memories of their four previous World Club Challenge trophies, all of which had been paraded on the pitch by former players prior to kick-off.

“It was a special night tonight but who is to say that we can’t have more nights like that and make it more of a regular thing, to increase attendances and the impact this club has on the town,” added Peet.

“There is plenty to build on, on and off the field. There is no reason why we shouldn’t get more big games if we keep learning and improving.

“The thought of that being our last big night would be horrendous.”

After delivering a stinging response to his critics by leading Wigan to Grand Final glory last week, Harry Smith is relishing the prospect of winning his second England cap in the first match of a three-test series against Tonga on Sunday.

The 23-year-old Wigan stand-off played an increasingly pivotal role in his club’s surge to the Super League title, culminating in kicking six points in their 10-2 win over Catalans at Old Trafford last weekend in the Betfred Grand Final.

It marked a glittering end to the season for Smith, who missed out on the prestigious Harry Sunderland man-of-the-match trophy by a single vote, and was all the more impressive given early season concerns over his inconsistency with the boot.

Ahead of the clash at St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium, Smith told the PA news agency: “I’m very happy with how the season went in terms of leadership and game management, and winning the confidence of my team-mates and (Wigan head coach) Matt Peet.

“I got a bit of stick due to my kicking, and some of it was probably a bit unfair. I thought my overall performance, creating stuff for the team, was really good.

“I never really over-thought it. I knew the work I was putting in would pay off, and I just had to keep looking forward and not backwards. I feel like I’ve really managed to make those improvements in the last few months.”

Smith made his only previous England appearance in a one-sided 64-0 thrashing of France earlier this year and knows his side face a different proposition against a Tonga squad stacked with talent from Australia’s NRL.

In the absence through suspension of regular captain George Williams, Smith is set to form a new half-back partnership with Hull KR’s Mikey Lewis, one of two potential debutants in coach Shaun Wane’s 19-man matchday squad alongside Leeds’ Harry Newman.

For more experienced members of the squad, the series represents the chance to finally shrug off any lingering disappointment from last year’s dramatic golden point World Cup semi-final defeat to Samoa at the Emirates Stadium.

Smith added: “The Samoa game has not been mentioned much, because there’s obviously quite a lot of players in the squad who were not involved, but there are definitely some who still have that bitter feeling.

“It’s more about how we can move on with the aim of getting to a World Cup final in the future. It’s why we take up the sport, to play in the biggest games, and the difference between this and the France game is obvious.

“You can feel it in training, the intensity is much bigger than before the France game, because not only are you surrounded with really good players, but you know how good those are who you are coming up against.”

St Helens full-back Jack Welsby has been handed the honour of becoming England’s youngest ever captain on his home ground and will come face-to-face with domestic team-mate Will Hopoate in the opposite position.

Saints team-mate Tommy Makinson is another survivor from the Samoa nightmare and he believes Welsby’s ascent to the captaincy, in place of the now-retired Sam Tomkins, has been an inevitability for some time.

“I’m really proud first and foremost,” said Makinson. “It’s been coming and in his performances over the past two or three years, we’ve all seen what Jack can do.

“He’s a back-to-back Man of Steel candidate and all the accolades have come his way. He’s not really very vocal, but he’s honest, hard-working and more than anything he’s a good bloke, and that’s why everyone respects him.”

Matt Peet will aim to emulate his coaching heroes by ushering in a new era of domination after Wigan claimed their first Super League Grand Final win since 2018 with a hard-fought 10-2 victory over Catalans Dragons at Old Trafford.

The 39-year-old Warriors chief capped a remarkable personal journey that started as an unpaid volunteer with the club’s academy in 2008 by master-minding their return to the sport’s summit, but maintained his job is far from done.

Instead, Manchester United fan Peet will seek inspiration from heroes such as Sir Alex Ferguson to build a sustained legacy of success at the club, and perhaps emulate the four back-to-back titles won by rivals St Helens whose reign ended in this year’s semi-finals.

“When coaches can win repeatedly and build different teams and sustain a culture, then you know they have got something special about them,” said Peet. “They are the kind of coaches that I admire and look to learn little bits from.

“I am a Manchester United fan and sitting back watching that team evolve through the late 80s and right through to the 2000s, what you saw from Sir Alex was him rebuild that team, make tough decisions when it was required, trust young players and manage players. That all comes down to leadership and culture.”

Peet was at pains to pay tribute to the players who successfully concluded a re-emergent season, a sturdy defensive display giving way to second-half dominance with the help of their opponents who saw both Adam Keighran and Tom Davies sin-binned.

Liam Marshall’s solitary try 12 minutes into the second half made the difference while the increasingly trusted boot of Harry Smith kicked a conversion and two penalties to see his side home and deny the French side a first Grand Final crown.

“You always want to build on success,” added Peet. “When people look ahead to next year, they are under-estimating some of the quality they’ve seen on the field tonight.

“Some of them will be moving on, but I want to reflect on this group of people, men, players and staff. I think we will look back on this year’s team as a special team regardless. What happens next, who knows.”

Toby King and Kai Pearce-Paul played their last games for the club in the Grand Final but Wigan’s recruitment for 2024 has raised eyebrows with Luke Thompson, Kruise Leeming, Sam Walters and the vanquished Keighran all inked in to bolster an already-impressive squad.

The first challenge for the impressive array of new faces could be a trip Down Under with Peet anxious to emulate Saints in kicking off the season with a daunting test against NRL champions Penrith Panthers.

“We want to go there,” added Peet. “I’m looking forward to it, and it will be an honour. I know the club would like to go there. This club has a great history of playing in that competition and it’s where we should be.”

Peet’s players lined up to pay tribute to their unassuming coach, with veteran captain Liam Farrell ensuring he did not escape the plaudits in the victorious dressing room after the match.

Farrell, who first tasted Grand Final success with his home-town club in 2010, revealed: “I just singled him out in the dressing room.

“He was praising everyone around him – the owner, the players, his staff members. But well and truly, he leads by example. He is a leader at the top and everyone follows him.

“He makes tough calls when they’re needed, he puts the game plan into place. He does all those one per-centers, all those extra efforts, and it is the reason we are where we are.

“It is the reason we won the Challenge Cup (last season), it’s the reason we won the League Leaders’ Shield and it’s the reason now we’re sitting here as Super League champions. He is a leader in every sense.”

Sam Tomkins’ dream of ending his glittering career with one last Grand Final win was shattered by his former club as Wigan summoned a stirring second-half display to sink Catalans Dragons 10-2 at Old Trafford.

Liam Marshall grabbed the only try of the game to secure a hard-fought but ultimately comfortable win for Matt Peet’s men, sealing their sixth domestic showpiece and their first since 2018.

Tomkins, who was embraced by his friend and former team-mate, Wigan captain Liam Farrell at the final whistle, will head into retirement reflecting on a pair of yellow cards that effectively cost his side any chance of victory.

Adam Keighran was sin-binned midway through the first period and Tom Davies followed suit for an intentional block on Marshall in the second half as Catalans came up short for the second time in three years.

It was a tough night all round for Tomkins, who had been served an early reminder that he would be done no favours on his final appearance when he was taken out by Farrell in the process of punting a high ball forward in the third minute.

Liam Marshall marked his 150th appearance with a hat-trick as Wigan sealed their return to the Betfred Super League Grand Final for the first time in three years with a blistering 42-12 win over Hull KR at the DW Stadium.

Matt Peet’s men scored three tries in the opening 12 minutes and never looked back as they set up an Old Trafford clash with Catalans Dragons and their former hero Sam Tomkins, who starred in each of Wigan’s previous three Grand Final wins.

Elliot Minchella’s try gave Rovers a glimmer of hope before the break but three tries in quick succession at the start of the second half – bolstered by the unerring boot of Harry Smith who kicked all seven of his conversions – wrapped up Wigan’s win inside an hour.

Willie Peters’ men had arrived at the DW Stadium brimming with confidence after a stellar campaign but the semi-final simply proved a step too far as their flat-footed defensive line was ruthlessly exploited by the hosts.

Marshall marked his 150th appearance by crashing between Tom Opacic and Louis Senior to notch the opener inside three minutes, then Jai Field pursued Smith’s clever kick to slap down his side’s second, a video check over-ruling referee Liam Moore’s suspicions of a knock-on.

Marshall exposed more gaps on the Rovers rights to trot over all too easily for his side’s third and Smith’s precision with the boot meant the visitors were staring at an 18-0 deficit having barely brushed the ball in anger.

Minchella at least gave his side hope before half-time as Rovers capitalised on a careless knock-on by Abbas Miski, Opacic and Matt Parcell combining to give Minchella the chance to get their side on the scoreboard.

Rovers briefly looked galvanised and Matty Storton had a sniff of a second, but it marked their last real chance to establish some sort of contest as familiar failings meant Wigan completed the job within 15 minutes of the restart.

French’s clever cross-field lob found Marshall in space to tap down for his hat-trick, yet another Rovers failure to cope with a high ball sent Toby King over in the opposite corner, then Patrick Mago’s fancy footwork served up Field’s second.

Wigan were simply merciless against a Rovers team folding under the weight of an exhaustive campaign and a seventh try via Abbas Miski began to give the scoreline echoes of Wigan’s 64-6 win over a second-string Rovers side early last month.

They at least avoided that indignity, but it was a sad ending for Rovers and in particular their stalwart Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who had a shocker in his final game before retirement.

Smith finally missed with a cheeky long-range drop-goal attempt as Wigan counted down the minutes and Rovers at least gave their massed ranks of travelling fans something to cheer when Jordan Abdull sent Jez Litten cantering through in the dying stages.

Wigan head coach Matt Peet hopes to give out-going joint-owner and chairman Ian Lenagan a fitting send-off with more Challenge Cup glory at Wembley.

Lenagan, 77, announced last Saturday that he will stand down at the end of the season in November, ending his 16-year association with the club.

Wigan, who lifted the Cup at Wembley last season for a record-extending 20th time after victory over Huddersfield, take on Hull KR at Headingley on Sunday for a place in this year’s final.

Peet said: “I think everyone understands how much he has committed to the club, financially obviously, but in terms of emotion and dedication of his life and his family’s life.

“It would be fitting if we could get him to at least one more final. We’ll take this opportunity this week to try and do it, but we’re up against another proud club with plenty of motivation of their own.”

Since Lenagan bought the Warriors from Dave Whelan in 2007, they have been Grand Final winners four times and have won three League Leaders’ Shields, three Challenge Cups and a World Club Challenge.

Peet, promoted from assistant to head coach after Adrian Lam’s departure in October 2021, said: “I think it’s where (Lenagan) picked the club up and on and off the field, where the club was at and where he’ll leave them.

“Everything that’s gone on between will be the biggest indication and history will remember Ian Lenagan as one of the greatest leaders in the history of the club, and rightly so.

“The influence he’s had on the education in the town, community, the engagement and obviously on the field.

“He’s also made his mark on the game as a whole. Internally, we always make decisions which are best for Wigan, but he always has the bigger picture in mind of what’s best for the game.”

Peet has warned his side must produce top form if they are to beat Hull KR on Sunday to set up a Wembley showdown against either St Helens or Leigh on August 12.

Wigan lost 27-18 to Hull KR at Craven Park on the opening day of the Super League season in February and edged a 26-22 golden-point win in the return in May.

“They’ve outplayed us twice so it’s obvious anything less than our best performance of the season and we’ll not be in the final,” added Peet, who has no new injuries following Friday’s 26-12 win against Warrington.

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters, appointed as Tony Smith’s successor for the start of the season, is waiting for fitness reports on doubtful trio Ryan Hall, Jimmy Keinhorst and Elliot Minchella.

Rovers, who lost in the semi-finals to Huddersfield last season, have seen a strong Super League challenge hit by a string of injuries.

Australian Peters, 44, who played on the losing side for Wigan in the  2000 Super League Grand Final defeat to St Helens, said: “If we can beat a club like Wigan to go and play at Wembley, it would be huge.

“Everything we’ve been through, the adversity in terms of injuries, it would be massive.

“We need to enjoy ourselves, celebrate the little wins along the way, like getting to the semis, but every team wants to get to Wembley.

“If we were to do the job, it would give the club huge belief, that’s for sure.”

Wigan head coach Matt Peet has backed his side to emerge stronger from last week’s agonising golden-point defeat to Betfred Super League whipping boys Wakefield.

The Warriors look to re-ignite their play-off hopes against neighbours Warrington on Friday having endured a week of tough soul-searching on the back of the dramatic 27-26 loss.

Peet’s men led three times at Belle Vue, including by eight points late in the second half, before Trinity scrambled level and Will Dagger’s extra-time kick secured the precious win for the bottom side.

It was an uncharacteristic performance in what has been a relatively consistent season for Wigan and Peet admitted: “It was important the players and staff took it hard and understood it was one we got wrong.

“If we’d been more hard-nosed and ruthless in the last 10 minutes, we might have got away with the two points, and I’m confident if we get put in the same position this week, we’ll manage the game better.

“You have to learn some lessons that hurt sometimes. You wish you didn’t have to go through that process, but if the outcome is a hungrier and more intelligent team, then we can turn it into a positive.”

Wigan’s shock loss saw them slip to fourth in a congested league table, better off by points difference than Friday’s opponents, the early pace-setters whose season has come off the rails following five defeats in their last six league games, albeit showing a marked improvement in last week’s tight loss to St Helens.

The Warriors, who have a Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull KR next week, have also announced a new four-year deal for homegrown hooker Brad O’Neill, who has made an increasing impact of late in a position in which Peet is not short of options.

“This is the only place I want to be and I’m glad to be here for the next four years,” said the 20-year-old, who came through the club’s scholarship and academy systems.

“I won the Challenge Cup last season and my dream is to win more with this club. Last week was a really tough game but we came back in on Monday and learned some really harsh lessons.

“You can take positives from learning how to play in those different kinds of pressure moments. We’ll learn massive amounts from last Friday and hopefully we’ll take it forward into these big games that are coming up.”