MATT PEET offered strong praise for Wakefield Trinity after they stopped his Wigan Warriors from reaching a fourth straight Grand Final.
Wigan, chasing the treble, were strong favourites going into the semi-final but were humbled 33-6.
“We were well beaten, all ends up,” said coach Peet.
“It was an outstanding performance from Wakefield. All the threats we knew they had, they got every facet of their game right, and we didn’t.
“Their shape was good, they defended tough. They made us look ordinary.”
Wigan’s only try came when Wakefield were a player down in the first half through Jazz Tevaga’s sin bin, but they trailed 8-6 at half-time.
Adam Keighran’s yellow card for a trip early in the second half sparked a Trinity surge with three tries in the following ten minutes and another shortly afterwards.
Peet said: “It was a proper game (in the first half). They weathered the storm pretty well when we had the (extra) number.
“I thought they were the better side but I was confident that if we fixed a few things up that the game could swing back our way.
“We never did that, which is credit to them really. They did a lot very well.
“There are things we’ll look at in terms of our physicality. This game usually comes back to winning collisions, on both sides of the ball.
“There were plenty of things you could pick into, but we just didn’t play to be honest.
“Once it got to a few scores (difference) during that period we were down to twelve, we started chasing it and the game’s gone then.
“Both teams were challenged by a similar (sin bin) and they dealt with it better than we did. When they were up, they made their numbers tell.
“There were times we should have played a bit more rugby on them. But that’s because they were defending stuff we’ve done really well for a while.
“There’s no shame in admitting we were second best.”
Peet had sympathy for Man of Steel contender Keighran, saying: “He’s devastated, but he’s had some unbelievable moments for us in the last few years.
“You don’t get every night your own way. He couldn’t have tried any harder. It was a split-second decision made. Hopefully he doesn’t dwell on it.”