Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet has been the latest in a line of Super League coaches to comment on the issue of gamesmanship.

Despite Super League being just two rounds away from reaching the play-offs and the race to Old Trafford still being wide open, the focus within the sport is elsewhere.

Instead, it’s about this growing scourge of gamesmanship. It isn’t new to these past few weeks or even this season, but it has certainly been placed under the microscope and also under the eyes of the video referee.

The latest issue surrounds players staying down to ‘milk’ penalties and sin bins and Round 25 of Super League had plenty of instances where fans and pundits claimed that happened.

What has ignited the Super League ‘gamesmanship’ debate?

One of those incidents saw Jon Wilkin explode about Josh Drinkwater after the Australian half stayed down following a late shot from Matty Lees, who was subsequently sin-binned after a lengthy video referee review.

Another player to ‘earn’ a sin bin was Wigan Warriors’ Tyler Dupree who stayed down after Jai Whitbread’s shot, which upon seeing slow-motion replays from the video referee was clearly illegal. For many fans though, the issue was whether Dupree was actually hurt or if he knew that staying down would see action taken, particularly given the prop didn’t go off for medical treatment or a HIA.

That’s where the debate has raged on this gamesmanship issue and Wigan Warriors’ head coach Matt Peet spoke about it ahead of his side’s clash with Leeds Rhinos.

Peet told Wigan Today: “My thoughts are really clear, nothing has changed since round one. I’m amazed how it seems to be getting a lot of attention at the moment, but I can think of examples in every round of Super League this year.

“It isn’t going to change now before the end of Super League. So our approach is to fix our own discipline, take it out of the referee’s hands, and keep it out of the video referee’s hands by getting our tackle height right.”

What Wigan Warriors’ Matt Peet said on ‘milking’ penalties

Peet is one of the finest speakers in the sport with a word rarely misplaced when he answers questions and that was the case again as he was asked about the issue of players staying down to earn penalties.

“For me, I don’t think anyone wants that to be the talking point, I don’t think anyone wants to see players staying down. But it’s difficult to question whether they’re injured or not when they’ve been hit in the head,” he explained.

For Wigan Warriors, it’s simple, with the mantra remaining ‘Control the controllables’.

“Our approach is to try and get our own tackle technique in order,” Peet added.

“The only way to stop it from happening is to not concern yourself with what your opponent is doing, or the referees, but to try and get your tackle height right. And I think every club is trying their hardest.”

He will see his Wigan Warriors side host Leeds Rhinos on Friday night with the Cherry and Whites looking to avenge the shock defeat they suffered to Brad Arthur’s side in early August.