Wigan Warriors: Matt Peet details major injury lift; key player has ‘good chance’ of facing Warrington

Wigan Warriors coach Matt Peet has revealed that England international prop Ethan Havard has a chance of returning from injury this weekend.

The Warriors host rivals Warrington in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals at the DW Stadium on Sunday afternoon, 2:30pm kick-off.

Havard has not played since dislocating his elbow in their Challenge Cup sixth round win over Leeds on May 20.

“He’s a chance this week,” Peet said of Havard potentially returning.

“He’ll train tomorrow and then we’ll make a call on that. He’s a good chance.”

The Warriors are down on troops in the forward pack at the moment, with Havard, Willie Isa, Kai Pearce-Paul and Mike Cooper sidelined and Brad Singleton only returning just last week.

Peet, whose side have won just two games from their last six, made no excuse for their dip in form but admitted that injuries do take their toll.

“Particularly the forwards that have been missing, the quicker we can get them back, it will assist our rotation,” Peet added.

“Lads have probably been playing longer minutes than they regularly play and stretching us a bit that way.

“Certainly having players like Ethan and Kai and Willie would be beneficial, but most teams are going through something similar at the moment so ultimately, we have to be better regardless of who is in and who isn’t, but they do help (when they are fit).

“We haven’t been good enough for long enough. I think we’ve been quite inconsistent within games and obviously I’ve had to tinker with the spine and we’ve had to make some selection changes but hopefully we can get some consistency now and make some improvements.”

Wigan Warriors boss previews Challenge Cup quarter-final clash

Wigan and Warrington have already played each other once this season, with the Warriors winning 13-6 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on April 14.

“Warrington are a very good team,” Peet said.

“The last time we met we were both flying and since then we’ve both had a bit of a dip, but I’m sure both teams will find their form again before the end of the year and I’m sure both teams will be hoping to get closest to it this week.

“I think it’s a perfect representation of the season we’re having when you look at the two teams. It’ll be the team that gets closest to their best at the weekend that wins.

“Neither team will be happy with their recent form, I thought Warrington last week went one better than us and got the win, so it’ll just be a case of which case gets closest to their best I think.

“It’s not a season ticket game, it’s a stand-alone fixture so hopefully we can get a decent turnout.”

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