Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet has revealed his biggest challenge for 2025 and shared what makes him tick as a coach.
Peet joined co-hosts Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman to talk all about rugby league on their podcast, The Sports Agents.
With seven trophies in just three years since taking over as head coach, Peet has been dubbed ‘the best head coach in Britain’ by the podcast.
However, Peet remains humble always and was open about his journey through rugby league.
Matt Peet’s coaching philosophy
Considering Peet has never played a game of professional rugby league, he knows more about it than most.
Speaking on the podcast he said: “I know the game, I’ve been a student of the game for a long time and I am obsessive in that regard but I also enjoy playing the dumbest man in the room as well.
“I enjoy sitting back and saying ‘Explain that to me again’ or ‘Clarify that’, ‘So, what are we thinking’, and I suppose my job is to get all the best ideas in the room – not just from the players but from our excellent coaching team as well.”
Peet credits his coaching staff frequently as they all bring something different to his team but admitted he’s still the one to make the big calls.
He added: “If I sit around the room and get all the best opinions and then before we leave say ‘So the plan is this and this, is that what we’re committing to’, I think that serves them (players) well.
“Where I have to deliver is the in-game decisions and messaging, planning substitutions and selecting the team.
“There are quite a lot of calls where you can all have an opinion but everybody looks at you and asks ‘So, what are we doing?'”
Where he wants to improve
A warning shot to the rest of Super League, Matt Peet and the Warriors are constantly looking to improve.
He continued: “I think constantly trying to remain level – not getting too high or too low.
“For example, I’ve told them that now my big challenge is leading them as a team that is perceived to be at the top. We haven’t done that before, we’ve been in pursuit of other teams and trying to win the trophy.
“So now it’s new and we’re all out of our comfort zone a little bit but that’s ok. There are bits in and around practice that we want to get better but most of it is keeping hungry and motivated.”
He added that they’re always trying to adapt and change how they do things but equally, keeping the core of what they do exactly the same.
He finished: “The common theme (of great teams) is the cultural work, the way you manage the team, the leadership of the team and being able to reinvent the team on the run really whether that’s through recruitment, changing training methods or evolving.”
