Matt Peet’s first interview
- Matt Peet spoke to Wigan TV in his first interview since being named Head Coach.
- Peet: “I want to drive that connection between the staff and players and most importantly between the players and the fans and the town.”
- The new Warriors boss was unveiled at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. Watch HERE.
Head Coach Matt Peet spoke to Wigan TV on his appointment, philosophies, the Warriors fans and how success is measured as he faced his first interview as Wigan boss.
On his appointment, Peet said: “I started having conversations with Ian (Lenagan) and Kris (Radlinski) about the potential of taking over as Head Coach. It all moved fast after that, we were meeting most days and they were throwing different questions, different situations to me.
“They explained that they had some different options, but as we met more and more it seemed like we were heading in the right direction and I was delighted in the end to get it sorted, I look forward to what is ahead and I’m very grateful to Ian, Kris and the Club.”
With 13 years experience in coaching, most of which has been spent across the board with Wigan, Peet explained his thinking going forward: “My philosophy on coaching is challenging every individual to improve, challenging them to a really high level, but I think on the other side there’s players that need and deserve a really high level of support so it’s about me managing a system around them where they’re challenged every day.”
He added: “Every player must improve, the team must improve but I want them to come in every day and enjoy it, to feel that they’re cared for and that there’s some tough love. I think you’ve got to go above and beyond in your care for the players, there’s a transaction there where you want to get the buy-in from them where they’ll run through a brick wall for the staff, for the club and for the fans.
“I want to drive that connection between the staff and players and most importantly between the players and the fans and the town. We need to engage with the town, engage with the fans, provide a team and a style of rugby that this town can get behind and that starts with our day-to-day interactions, our day-to-day work.
The new boss also spoke about the measurement of success: “Wigan and trophies go hand in hand, you walk in the building and any of our memories of the Club we’ve all got trophies on our photographs, so that will be the ultimate gauge of how successful we are.
“However, I feel success comes back to that day-to-day, if someone walks into this environment it has to feel right, it has to feel like a place of hard work, a place of care, a place where everyone cares about one another. I go back it represents the fans, it represents the town, we’re proud to represent the Wigan badge.
To watch the full interview with Matt, head to Wigan TV now! The new Head Coach goes on to talk about the production of youth, the pressure of being the Wigan boss, his own pathway and much more!
To learn more about Matt Peet, click HERE.
