How Wigan Warriors and Matt Peet could be set to transform status of Rugby League

Wigan Warriors and their head coach Matt Peet could be in line to transform the status and prominence of rugby league in the coming weeks.

For everybody inside the rugby league circle, the name Matt Peet is one that carries huge respect, admiration and pride. He is a wonderful advocate for the sport, the town of Wigan and the trait of humility as well.

Outside of rugby league, the name Matt Peet is one that is almost unknown and for Peet, who is not about ego or status whatsoever, that probably suits him down to the ground. However, it’s a damning indictment on the status of rugby league.

The sport’s current greatest coach (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) is still relatively unknown outside of rugby league circles, something that highlights where our great sport sits on the pecking order for the general population.

Although that could be about to change as the end-of-year awards season rolls around. Earlier this week, Peet was recognised as the Committee Award winner by the Sports Journalists Association and now all eyes will be on whether he and his side pick up honours at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) Awards.

Could Wigan Warriors and Matt Peet earn SPOTY recognition?

Both Peet and Wigan Warriors will be among the favourites to be awarded the Coach and Team of the Year awards and should they be successful, there could be monumental effects for rugby league.

The case for both Peet and Wigan to win is a simple one in that the 40-year-old and his team won all four trophies in the same calendar year, something that has never happened before in the Super League era.

St Helens managed a similar feat back in 2006 when they won all of the Challenge Cup, League Leaders’ Shield and the Grand Final. They would then go on to win the 2007 World Club Challenge but scooping up all four pieces of silverware in one calendar year escaped them.

Despite that, head coach Daniel Anderson became the first and only Coach of the Year winner to represent the sport of rugby league. St Helens would also win Team of the Year, becoming the second rugby league side to do so. The team who won it previously? Wigan Warriors, of course.

The 1994 campaign saw Wigan lift every piece of silverware available to them in the calendar year, including the World Club Challenge, and they too were rewarded with Team of the Year honours.

Perhaps the only reason why they didn’t earn Coach of the Year honours was because the award was yet to have been created, first being handed out in 1999.

Who stands in Wigan and Peet’s way?

🗣️ “Very grateful to be selected”

Head coach Matt Peet has won the SJA committee award after steering Wigan Warriors to all four trophies in 2024 🏉 pic.twitter.com/PYPQ2CwmuQ

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 20, 2024

So it is clear that there is precedent there for both Matt Peet and Wigan Warriors to earn huge recognition at the SPOTY Awards, which are slated for Sunday, 15th December.

What of the competition though? No other team or coach can claim that they dominated their sport to the extent that Wigan Warriors did.

The last four years have seen football sweep the board for Coach and Team of the Year awards, however, Manchester City’s title defence ‘only’ saw them lift two trophies and the international game hasn’t been favourable either England’s men’s or women’s sides.

No Grand Slam was achieved in the Men’s Six Nations and Great Britain did not dominate in any particular field at the Olympics.

Perhaps the England Rugby Union Women’s side could lay forward a case after an 18th Grand Slam and a second-straight WXV 1 win, but the fact that was the 18th time a Grand Slam has been won showcases the rarity and accomplishments of Wigan’s quadruple-winning season.

What impact would a SPOTY win have for rugby league?

After establishing both precedent and a possible lack of competition for Wigan Warriors and Matt Peet to win their respective awards at the SPOTY ceremony in under a month’s time, now it’s time to dream.

What could a double win at such a prestigious event do for the sport of rugby league?

Handily, there is evidence of what it can do and that comes when you contrast the 2006 and 2007 Super League campaigns to see what an impact St Helens’ double win caused.

Per Rugby League Project, the 2006 Super League season saw an average attendance of 9,511. By contrast, the 2007 season saw an average attendance of 10,564, an increase of over 1,000 fans per game.

For fairness, the two teams that had swapped were Castleford Tigers and Hull KR with Cas averaging 7,096 in 2006 compared to KR’s 7,160 in 2007, underlining that the huge average attendance spike was not an anomaly due to a change in teams.

On top of those attendance figures, there is also a huge opportunity for rugby league simply to advertise itself to the masses with SPOTY being a huge TV draw.

The 2023 edition saw an average audience of 2.9 million, per The Daily Telegraph, with that figure peaking as and when awards were handed out. Having the personable Matt Peet and his Wigan Warriors stars in front of a TV audience of nearly three million is marketing potential that IMG could not buy.

More than that, a win for both Matt Peet and Wigan Warriors would be just. Their 2024 season was one of pure brilliance and worthy of recognition. If they can help stamp rugby league firmly on the map because of it then that would simply be the cherry on top of the cake for the Cherry and Whites.