Vietnam, New York and the Lakes: Inside Matt Peet’s 20,000-mile off-season
Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet pictured ahead of the 2024 Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford
Six major honours in a row. All four trophies on offer scooped in 2024, including a second successive Super League title. You might think Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet put his feet up during the off-season: in reality, he did anything but.
Wigan begin the defence of their Super League title on Thursday night as neighbours Leigh Leopards make the short trip across the borough to visit The Brick Community Stadium.
The Round 1 clash comes exactly 124 days after the Warriors’ 2024 Grand Final triumph against Hull KR at Old Trafford.
Their 9-2 victory that night brought the curtain down on a year which had already seen them win the World Club Challenge, Challenge Cup and League Leaders’ Shield – a feat never completed before by any team in the summer era.
And as the Cherry and Whites, who have already eased into the Fourth Round of the Challenge Cup, prepare to embark on another energy-sapping campaign, head coach Peet heads into 2025 re-energised: though we’re not sure how!
‘When you get the chance to go and freshen yourself up, get away from it a little bit, you’ve got to try and take those opportunities’
Peet‘s off-season saw him clock up more than 19,500 miles over three continents, and none of it – or at least very little – involved the sight of an egg-shaped ball.
Sitting down with LoveRugbyLeague during pre-season, he first detailed an action-packed family trip to Vietnam.
The 40-year-old said: “I went on holiday with my family. I think it’s important to recharge as players and as coaches, it’s important that you refresh and get ready to go again.
“That’s the case in the season as well… when you get the chance to go and freshen yourself up, get away from it a little bit, you’ve got to try and take those opportunities.
“Me and my family love to travel and this year, we went away to Vietnam and spent a few weeks there.
“We were in seven different locations around the country, and I love the fact that me, my daughters and my wife have been able to experience that together.
“I try and build a bit of learning into my holidays. It’s a long time that we go away for, so I try to read things from people that come from different walks of life.
“Meditation and the yoga, I also built in while I was over there. I do enjoy it and find it to be an important part of my life, so when I’m travelling, I do try and tap in to it.
“We build yoga, mediation, wellness practices and visualisation into the programme here (at the club). We have specialist coaches and teachers for it.
“I think meditation is one of those things that you can do anywhere, you only need a few minutes. It’s about trying to keep it at the forefront of your mind.”
‘I want to be better this year than I was last year – getting better again in different ways’
Having been associated with his boyhood club for nigh on a decade beforehand, Peet took charge of Wigan‘s first-team ahead of 2022.
A total of seven major honours have followed to date in the shape of two Super League titles, two Challenge Cups, two League Leaders’ Shields and a World Club Challenge.
Those honours might not have come without Peet’s secret weapon though, which isn’t Bevan French or Jai Field, but Craig White – an award-winning mentor.
He and Peet spent some time together up in the Lake District during the off-season, with the Warriors chief explaining: “I have my own personal coach, Craig, who looks after me, challenges me and supports me with my development.
“We’ve been together for four years now, he has a massive impact on me and the club support me in that.
“I’m very grateful that the club have invested in me that way as well, and I think it shows that Kris (Radlinski, CEO) and Mike (Danson, owner) are forward thinking.
“They understand that you can have a staff, but much like the players, we can all improve.
“I want to be better this year than I was last year – getting better again in different ways.
“That’s the challenge, and much of the conversation with Kris when I signed my new deal was about how they could help me get better.
“I’d heard about Craig for a long time. I knew him informally, and I went out of my way to get in touch with him.
“I thought we’d be talking about his experiences in rugby union and the different coaches he’s worked with, but I learned straight away that he thinks very differently.”
‘I’d hate to be a successful rugby league coach but a crap husband or a crap dad’
White has over 30 years worth of experience in providing mentorship programmes to leaders and teams.
His client repertoire is a more than impressive one, including notable figures from numerous sports as well as people from the very top of multi-national conglomerate companies.
Peet now considers White a close friend, and recently bravely shared the tragic news of his and wife Becca’s loss of a baby on the mentor’s ‘Dare to be different’ podcast.
Detailing his and White’s relationship, and what he takes from it, Peet told us: “Rugby’s only a part of his skillset, he’s basically dedicated his life to self-development and personal improvement.
“There’s so many different areas that I can tap into with him. I’m only scratching the surface of what he’s capable of teaching me and the main thing is it keeps me focused on trying to improve.
“I want to be a better coach, but I almost think that travelling, rest and having time away with my family makes me a better coach… it gives me better intuition and room to think about new ideas.
“I don’t think being a coach is just while you’re in these four walls or even when you’re in the season. It can be walking the dog, or walking on the beach, meeting new people, it’s trying to be a well-rounded person.
“I’d hate to be a successful rugby league coach but a crap husband or a crap dad. I want to try and be well-rounded, and I encourage the players to do the same.
“We’re not 24/7 rugby coaches or rugby players, we’re people who coach rugby and people who play rugby.
“Coaching is a massive part of my life, but it’s not everything I’m about. It’s healthy to talk like that and be open about it.
“I want the lads to have strong lives at home away from here and then when they come in, they’re ready to walk.
“There’s the skill of your job and being competent at it, but a lot of it is being on the right physical and mental space to bring your best day in, day out.
“We want to be good people away from here as well with our own families.”
‘Another example of Mike and Rads creating opportunity for us… we were very privileged’
Wigan will, of course, be heading to America at the end of this month for their history-making Super League clash with Warrington Wolves in Las Vegas on March 1.
Peet, alongside CEO Kris Radlinski and assistants Sean O’Loughlin and Tommy Leuluai, sorted their ESTAs out earlier than the rest of the group and jetted over to the States towards the end of November.
Spending circa a week over there, they caught up with Warriors owner Mike Danson and forged a partnership with NFL outfit New York Giants, attending a clash against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the MetLife Stadium as guests of the club.
The Cherry and Whites boss said: “That’s another example of Mike and Rads creating opportunity for us.
“It was important that we went to New York and spent some time with Mike as well as the Giants. He’s got businesses there, and it was a good suggestion from him and Rads for us to make that trip.
“We took a couple of days out to spend time with the Giants, took in a gameday experience, and we were very privileged to do so.”
