Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet has spoken on the necessity for rugby league to seize the current opportunities in order to grow.
It’s clear that Wigan Warriors are leading the way as rugby league hits somewhat of a boom in terms of fan engagement, viewing figures and also status with last week’s Las Vegas event taking the sport to new levels.
A week prior to that Wigan’s Vegas opponents Warrington had captured the eyes of millions by renaming their stadium as The Luke Littler Stadium for one night only, a publicity stunt that helped put huge attention on their clash with Catalans Dragons.
Now, days removed from Las Vegas and the talk still remains about how epic the event was with the involvement of British fans hailed by many pundits including Johnathan Thurston, who has spoken about their impact.
The Aussie great said: “It’s always great to see the English fans, I played over in England a few times and one of my greatest memories was playing Leeds in the World Club Challenge. To have two sides from England and the Super League playing over here, it’s brought loads of supporters over as well.”
That English fan impact will be seen again in 2026 with Rhodri Jones of RL Commercial confirming that Super League will be present in Las Vegas next year, all off the back of the brilliant audition that Wigan Warriors put forward after their CEO Kris Radlinski reached out to the NRL to book a slot on the schedule.
‘Have to be more intelligent’ – Wigan Warriors boss sets out strategy for rugby league to grow
Before heading out to Las Vegas, Wigan head coach Matt Peet appeared on The Sports Agents podcast to speak about how rugby league can capitalise on this current boom and ensure the wave of positivity isn’t wasted.
“There seems some positives but we have had good periods in the past that we don’t follow through,” he said before picking out how rugby league can continue to build.
“I hope that the international programme continues to grow. I think that has to be the leading light for the game. That along with Las Vegas and getting some good product on BBC (is important).”
He also backed rugby league to embrace its identity before arguing that the stars at the top need to be sold in order for the game to grow.
The Wigan Warriors boss said: “We shouldn’t try to be rugby union or soccer or the NFL. We should get our chests out about who we are and where we come from and everyone else will buy in.
“We have to be more intelligent as a game to try and grow the game from the top. Having superstars in the game will get the grassroots thriving.”
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Eric T Cat
March 6, 2025 at 3:07 pm
As long as the RFL are charged with developing the sport it won’t happen. There was a time in the early to mid 1990s we could gave blossomed, but they dropped thw ball, knuckled under to Union, and effectively gave up. Until we hand control to the Australians, who aren’t beholdened to the RFU and it’s adherents in the media, there will be no change, no development, no progress, simply survival. Things that aren’t even real sports, WWE and UFC get more attention, idiots locked on sunny island villas disporting themselves attract more attention, some fool juggling chip,ivnks would garner national attention these days! But the RFL couldn’t market ice cream on Blackpool beach in mid summer! Th club game in Union has contracted significantly in England, that only flourishes in internationals, but have the RFL made efforts to capture those looking for clubs to follow? Of course they haven’t.