Dan Sarginson had a stellar 11-year career playing at the pinnacle of Rugby League.
He burst onto the scene with Harlequins; however in 2014 he would find a new home at the DW Stadium as he joined Wigan Warriors. He would have two spells in Cherry and White sandwiched between a stint in the NRL with the Gold Coast Titans, and would go onto make 127 appearances for the club. He also won the 2018 Grand Final with the Warriors.
The centre would also spend time at Salford, where he would bring this chapter of his life to a close to pursue a new career in public speaking.
“I talk to businesses, schools and universities around well-being, identity and self-exploration,” he told Serious about Rugby League.
“Moving forward, I want to create programs to help businesses and schools and people achieve what they want to achieve really.”
“The talks I’ve developed at the moment, I’ve got one towards businesses, I’ve got one towards schools and younger children and universities more academically and the pressures and anxieties around that.”
With this being a far cry from professional Rugby League, it is an interesting career path to travel down, and Sarginson detailed meeting ‘a load of cool people’ helped him take this step into a new life.
“I met a load of cool people and got talking about my career, my life and people just started saying ‘you need to share this stuff, you need to get out there’. “
Whilst he got the push from people around him, he highlighted it was something he was always interested in: “I already had the intention of wanting to get out and help people,” he said.
“The more guidance I had towards that, I thought to myself ‘yeah, why not? I’ll try and venture into the space of public speaking’. To be honest, I’ve got no qualifications; I’ve never done a course on it, it comes so naturally to me because it’s all from lived experience. I’m not trying to recite books or studies or anything like that. It’s everything that I’ve experienced, it’s all within me and I’m just super passionate about sharing it.”
He added: “I’m loving it, I’m absolutely loving it at the moment.”
Dan Sarginson on winning the 2018 Grand Final with Wigan Warriors
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com – 31/07/2022 – Rugby League – Betfred Super League Round 21 – Salford Red Devils v St Helens – AJ Bell Stadium, Salford, England – Salford’s Dan Sarginson runs in a try against St Helens.
Sarginson has seamlessly transitioned into civilian life thanks to his new found love of public speaking, but he also had a fantastic playing career.
He spent 11 seasons playing at the pinnacle of British Rugby League, winning two Super League Grand Finals. His first would come in 2016, and his second would come upon his return to the club in 2018.
However, 2018 was a difficult period for Sarginson away from Rugby League. That year, his younger brother sadly passed away, and Sarginson opened up on the support Wigan gave him during that time.
“I think when my little brother passed in 2018 and the support I received from Wigan and the players and really, really feeling so deeply embedded in a part of a team who really had my back. The emotional support I had just through that experience going on and the boys set it as a theme to try and win this thing for my little brother,” he said.
Whilst he was still struggling with the grief of his brother, this made winning the 2018 Grand Final all the more special for Sarginson: “My little brother came in 2016 and watched me win my first grand final and said it was one of his favourite days of his life. So for me personally to win that in 2018 and to know that he would have loved to have been there and if he was watching over in any sense that he’d have been so proud.
“I think emotionally and just that team connection that we had in 2018 was amazing man, it was so cool to be a part of.”
