Paul Deacon making his mark at Wigan Warriors as input shared: 'A great addition'

That is the view of head coach Matt Peet, who has shared high praise for Deacon following his return to his hometown club as an assistant coach.

The 46-year-old has been back at Wigan for around a month now after spending a decade with Sale Sharks in rugby union.

"Seamless,” Peet said of Deacon’s transition back to Wigan. “He knows the club, and all the staff are familiar one way or another with Deacs.

"He started off with a few target areas, but I think the way him, Sean (O’Loughlin), Tommy (Leuluai), John (Duffy) and myself work is very much a collaboration, we don’t just stay in our lanes, we share ideas, challenge one another and I think it works really well, so he has been a great addition and brought a new energy to the club, which is important at this time of year.”

Deacon first joined Wigan in 2010 after a trophy-laden career with Bradford Bulls. Following his retirement from playing, he joined Wigan’s coaching staff under then-head coach Shaun Wane, where he remained for four years. He was also appointed as an assistant to Steve McNamara in the England setup for the 2013 World Cup.

In 2015, the former Hindley junior switched codes to become the attack and skills coach for Sale before going on to spend five years in the head coaching role, before departing the Premiership Rugby club at the end of the 2024-25 season.

Deacon has been working closely on Wigan’s first and last tackle plays, whilst assisting the club’s spine players, with Warriors hooker Kruise Leeming already feeling the benefit.

"He’s been great,” said Leeming. “You hear that a lot of ‘oh yeah, he’s been great,’ – but he has genuinely been brilliant.

"He must have pulled me three or four times already, and he’s only been here a couple of weeks and said ‘have you thought about this?’ or ‘have you done this?’ and I’m like, ‘this is brilliant’.

“Going back to the game and intricacies of the game, he has spoken to me a lot about my marker, a bit of deception, and he has actually brought things in for the team as well that we need to work on.

“The way he delivers the message to the group is very clear, and he seems like a really good bloke, and I’m excited to see where that relationship can go as well because I want to pick his brains. He was a great player and has gone on to have a great career as a coach.

“It’s an embarrassment of riches that we’ve got at this club, and I’m so grateful to come in every day and be able to learn not just off the way they play and the style on the field, but the people that we’ve got around this place is amazing and I don’t take it for granted, so Deacs has been great.”