Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet touted for future away from Rugby League by former assistant

Former Wigan Warriors and incoming St Helens assistant Lee Briers has made the bold claim that current Wigan boss Matt Peet will go on to have a successful career outside of Rugby League, in essence arguing that he is ‘too big for the sport’.

Those comments came as Wigan Warriors hammered a rotated Salford side 64-0 to secure their second-straight League Leaders Shield, the sixth piece of silverware the club have won under Peet.

Speaking on Sky Sports about the credentials of the Wigan Warriors head coach and why he is so highly respected and so adept at winning, Briers noted what it was like to work alongside him before making the claim that Peet will be working in another industry because “rugby league does not do him justice”.

The former Wigan Warriors’ assistant said: “I’m going to say this with the utmost respect to Rugby League but Matt Peet will end up going and he’ll be a CEO of a big blue chip company.

“He is that powerful of a man manager, smart, intellectual. Rugby League does not do him justice.”

On what attracted him to work at Wigan with Peet, during which time the club won the 2022 Challenge Cup, Briers explained: “First and foremost how genuine a bloke he is. We’re probably on the same wavelength. He’s a bit mad, I’m a bit mad but we get along really well.”

Could Matt Peet be Wigan Warriors’ greatest-ever head coach?

It would be incredibly brave to anoint Peet as Wigan Warriors’ greatest-ever coach or even tip him for that given how much success the club has had historically but in his three years at the club, he’s guided them to six trophies.

The last five of those trophies have been the last five available to win meaning Wigan Warriors have cleaned up dating all the way back to last year’s League Leaders Shield, to which they then added the Grand Final, the World Club Challenge, the Challenge Cup and now the 2024 League Leaders Shield to as well.

Speaking more on Matt Peet the man, Lee Briers explained: “I think I’ve mentioned before, I probably speak to him more than I speak to my partner. He’s just a genuine and caring kind of man-manager, who lets me get on with my job, encourages me, and mentors me.

“I’m probably five, six years older than him and I class him as a big mentor. Everything about him is his caring and he cares a lot.”

Despite those plaudits, even Briers was shocked at the rate at which Peet is collecting silverware in his coaching career but he pointed to his success in the Academy game as the biggest factor: “I would say I’m a bit surprised because he’s taken every competition out. What you’ve got to look back through his academy days, I think he won the Grand Final for nine consecutive years.”

‘Exceptional’ Matt Peet leading Wigan on a mission

Jon Wilkin, a player who has been under some brilliant head coaches and was part of one of the few other teams to hold every trophy at once, heaped the praise on the Wigan Warriors boss and also noted the changes that he has seen.

The former St Helens captain argued: “Yeah, I think he’s an exceptional man. I’ll say this year I’ve seen more emotion from him. I’ve seen pressure may be visible on him more and I’ve enjoyed that as it is such a human thing.

“I think he was so calm and measured when he got the job and I’m pleased to see him raise his emotions and change emotions. He’s obviously emotionally highly intelligent and he can’t be a good manager unless you have empathy and you employ that empathy with some sort of tactical nouse.

“That’s what he does because he gets people on board with a vision, with a strategy, with a mission and Wigan’s mission was this. Wigan’s mission is three weeks from now and Wigan’s mission is ongoing success. So far that’s going great isn’t it?”

Next up for Wigan Warriors and Matt Peet is a well-earned week off before they will then host the lowest-ranking play-off team on Saturday, 5th October, in their bid to make it back-to-back Grand Finals and add a seventh piece of silverware in the Matt Peet era.