Access all areas: Wigan Warriors in Las Vegas – banana and honey sandwiches, meditation and puzzled dog walkers

New York Times

03-03-2025

'We've been to some places together us lads, haven't we?' Matt Peet, head coach of the Wigan Warriors, asks his players.
It is half an hour before a landmark occasion inside Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium, the first Super League game played on U.S. soil up against the Warrington Wolves. Rugby league has a new frontier and its reigning World Club Champions are urged not to pass up the opportunity that awaits them outside of the dressing room where they sit.
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'We might play in Las Vegas once in our lives,' says Peet. 'Once. And you'll look back on this whole trip and it'll make your f***ing heart burst because you were doing it with this group.'
Wigan have seen things others will not. Last season brought a clean sweep of trophies in English rugby league, with a victory over Penrith Panthers — Australia's finest team — last February making it an all-conquering campaign. No side had ever achieved such a feat.
Las Vegas became the next adventure on Saturday in the first of four rugby league games played across nine hours and a relentless Wigan team — playing in a special stars-and-stripes kit — do not disappoint. A 48-24 victory sees Warrington dragged into what Peet calls the 'deep waters' and held under. It was a domination watered down by their opponents' futile late rally.
'Anyone who tries to tell you it was just two points — they weren't here, they weren't you,' says Peet afterwards, with cans of Modelo beer in the hands of most of the players he addresses. 'Get your chests out and celebrate it.'
And they do. The music starts and the dancing begins. Not Like Us, by Kendrick Lamar, is a fitting first song choice for old foes Warrington to likely hear through the walls.
A fixture 10 months in the making, with English rugby league joining forces with the Australian NRL in the name of expansion of the sport, saw The Athletic granted access-all-areas to Wigan's players and staff during their time in the U.S.
This is the story of a Las Vegas adventure and an elite sporting team still pushing for more.
The scorched playing fields at Centennial Hills, 15 miles north west of the Vegas strip, have drawn a curious crowd. Pupils at the adjacent Ralph Cadwallader Middle School are watching a training match on Thursday between the two sets of Warriors — Wigan and New Zealand (who are in the U.S. to play Canberra Raiders) — from behind a chain-link fence. 'Is this rugby?' one schoolboy asks, far from convinced he is correct.
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A woman walking two dogs around the perimeter of the pitch is equally quizzical. 'A pretty wild game, huh?'
She is told that, without exaggeration, it is two of the best rugby league club sides in the world. 'Really? I can't wait to tell my husband,' is the response.
Tens of thousands of fans have travelled from the UK, Australia and New Zealand, but to most in Vegas, a city accustomed to very different things, rugby league is alien.
Practice pitches could not be sourced with the 'H' shaped rugby posts and even those at either end of the Allegiant Stadium had to be specially made for last season's maiden event.
Organisers, though, are intent on long-term change. Australian rugby league chair Peter V'landys directly addressed U.S. president Donald Trump in a video, pleading for his attendance on Saturday to watch 'the toughest game on earth'. The threat of 'World War Three' during the Oval Office fallout with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, though, made for bad timing.
UFC boss Dana White was another invited along but did not show, despite the organisation's gym hosting recovery sessions for players during the build-up.
Rugby league is trying to tap a new market and drive up revenues. Often overshadowed by rugby union, the more internationally-recognised code, Australia's National Rugby League (NRL) set up a temporary outpost in Vegas last year in a deal that will run until at least 2028.
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The success of that first event convinced organisers to think bigger. Four NRL teams were again invited back — this year New Zealand Warriors, Canberra Raiders, Cronulla Sharks and Penrith Panthers — as well as the two clubs from England, representing its top division, Super League. A women's international between Australia and England, which finished with the latter beaten 90-4, completed a four-game programme on the same artificial turf that hosted the 2024 Super Bowl.
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All the games came on Saturday, but the preceding days had seen a string of events staged to whip up enthusiasm. The biggest came on Fremont Street, with thousands lining a red carpet that welcomed all eight teams on Thursday. It was the full Vegas treatment and vans drove up and down the Strip advertising for tickets. Billboards were also evident all around the city.
'Let's grow the game,' says Liam Farrell, Wigan's 34-year-old captain who has played 383 games for the club. 'This can't be a one-off. Who knows if it'll work? But we have to consistently grow our sport and get it out there, with more eyes on the game.'
Farrell was among those who had watched the previous year's event in Vegas. 'I was slightly jealous but to be here now is very exciting,' he adds. 'It's Vegas isn't it, all this entertainment? It's crazy to think we're about to play rugby league here.'
Bevan French, the undoubted creative focal point of Wigan since moving from Australian club Parramatta Eels in 2019, brings his own star quality. He was man of the match in every final won by Wigan last season, including the Grand Final victory over Hull Kingston Rovers to sign off last season.
'Physically, it's one of the hardest sports, without pads or breaks in play,' he says after Thursday's training session. 'Just for that alone, it deserves a bit more recognition. We're trying to grow the sport but you dream of these kind of moments, playing in huge stadiums, as an athlete growing up.'
At least two more teams from England will get their own chance next year. The successes of this year's trip have brought confirmation that it will happen again in 2026.
Resorts World, with a silver piano once played by Liberace on display in reception, feels a long way from Wigan. It is here where the Warriors, along with the other seven teams competing, have been housed for the week, in the heart of Vegas' organised chaos.
'It's crazy when you think what's happened,' says Kris Radlinski, Wigan's chief executive and one-time star full-back for club and country. The last time rugby league had taken him to American soil was an international friendly match between England and the USA at Disney World in Florida 25 years earlier. That the USA lost 110-0 helps to capture the faint history of rugby league in these parts.
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'I scored five tries,' says Radlinski. 'Madness. They had a man-of-the-match presentation where it was a little porcelain Micky Mouse running with a rugby ball and they made the presentation in Hooters, surrounded by all the girls.'
There are few places in the world, though, where rugby league has a tighter hold than Wigan. The small town, home to just over 100,000 people and midway between Manchester and Liverpool in the north west of England, has a rich history in the sport. There have been eras of complete domination and the suspicion grows that another is beginning.
Recognition of that came with Wigan being named the 2024 Team of the Year at the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year awards. The trophy, a miniature gold TV camera, sits in the club's glass cabinet with its new friends.
'I'm not going to lie, all five trophies have been in every school in Wigan,' says Radlinski. 'We invite people every day to see them because that's why we do it.
'The Rugby League Awards were amazing but to get a Sports Personality award, which is an institution in British sport, that was like a seal of approval for everybody.'
That night was a big one for Wigan. Peet was pipped to the coach of the year by athletics pairing Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows — 'A Wigan institution,' Radlinski calls them — and the biggest prize of all went to Keely Hodgkinson, the 22-year-old who won gold in the 800m at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Hodgkinson was brought up in nearby Atherton — part of the wider borough of Wigan — but can often be found training at the Robin Park Arena, which has an athletics track surrounding the pitches the Warriors call home.
Radlinski, born and raised in Wigan, reels off more of the town's alumni. Andy Farrell, who will lead the British and Irish Lions rugby union tour of Australia last year, is the cousin of Wigan's captain Liam, and Shaun Edwards, head coach of the France rugby union team, still speaks with that distinctive Wigan accent.
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'I've spoken to Shaun Wane (head coach of the England rugby league team) about this all the time because there's a piece of work that needs to be done on it,' says Radlinski.
'If you look across sport, culture, music, business… there's fingerprints of Wiganers everywhere. I went to a Manchester United as a guest through Mark Bitcon, who is the head of performance at Southampton. He's a Wiganer. I was sat next to Collette Roche, who's the COO of Man United, she's a Wiganer. Paul Winstanley at Chelsea, he's a Wiganer.
'I put it down to something very simple: there's an underdog spirit here, a desire to prove people wrong. There's something in the water that makes us that little bit determined to prove people wrong.'
Mike Danson, the owner of Wigan Warriors and the town's football club Wigan Athletic, is another local boy done good. Last year's Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth to be £1.3billion after building his data analytics and consulting company, GlobalData, to new heights. It means Wigan Warriors have an owner, chief executive, head coach and captain all from the town. The connection to its community is inevitably strong and the pathway for emerging youngsters clear.
Junior Nsemba, the towering 20-year-old second rower, is the latest off the conveyor belt. Born and raised in Wigan but with Cameroonian heritage, he is the nephew of former Liverpool defender Rigobert Song. 'I wanted to play football when I was younger, but they kept playing me in the wrong position,' he laughs.
A big future now awaits in rugby league. 'It's a crazy feeling playing for your hometown club,' he says. 'You could walk to the stadium in five minutes from where I grew up. I'm very proud of playing for this team.'
Seven days out from departing for Vegas, there is the quiet dismantling of a temporary wedding marquee on the car park of Wigan's Brick Community Stadium. Las Wigan Chapel, they had called it, a promotional stunt ahead of the club's U.S. adventure.
Boxing announcer Michael Buffer had been flown in to the north west of England to oversee one ceremony it had staged, announcing Wigan fans John Synott and Sharon Jukes husband and wife on Valentine's Day.
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Buffer had been at the season opener between Wigan and near-neighbours Leigh Leopards the night before, belting out 'Let's get ready to rumble…' ahead of an absorbing contest that would remarkably end 0-0 — the first 0-0 draw in Super League history. Leigh, the gutsy underdogs, would eventually hold their nerve to beat the champions 1-0 in golden-point extra time.
Not that the defeat was evident in a buoyant mood at the Warriors' Robin Park facility. Seven days out from flying to Vegas, there was no sign of despondency over an 8am breakfast.
Peet's greatest source of encouragement, instead, was the number of family and friends returning to the club's base at the 1872 Lounge immediately after the game. 'I'd rather we lost 1-0 and saw so many people here than won 1-0 and had nobody.'
Peet, at 40, is a unique coach. Without a playing career of note to promote his suitability, he has gradually climbed the coaching ranks of his hometown club since his late teenage years were spent studying English at Manchester Metropolitan University. Peet has been Wigan's figurehead since 2021, assisted by club icons Sean O'Loughlin and Thomas Leuluai.
They speak of culture, communication and betterment. Team meetings have become a reflection of that, with players and staff told to turn their chair to colleagues at their side and debate the good and bad of the previous performance for three minutes. Peet then picks out individuals to share those discussions with the room.
'It's not about us coming in telling them all the answers; it's about communicating,' he says. 'We talk among ourselves so that everyone can have an opinion and feel part of the discussion. We don't want them to feel lectured or told. It can't always be top-down, it's about encouraging lads to think for themselves. We want a club that feels alive.'
The methods clearly work under Peet, who chief executive Radlinski believes is still battling an imposter syndrome. 'He's won the last six trophies but he still doesn't believe he's earned the profile to be Wigan coach,' says Radlinski, who saw fit to hand Peet a seven-year contract last March.
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Is that correct?
'Whether you call it imposter syndrome or being out of your comfort zone, I love that feeling,' says Peet. 'It's something you should seek in life. If you always feel comfortable, then you're not stretching or challenging yourself.'
That outlook naturally guards against complacency. The rugby league off-season took Wigan's coaching team to New York, where they requested to spend time with the Giants of the NFL.
'I'd go anywhere and everywhere to learn,' says Peet. 'That was a great experience that we were all very grateful for. You look at how people interact and how you can improve. That is a multi-billion dollar franchise but it still relies on human connection.'
As does Peet. There is a preconception that he is tetchy or easily annoyed, but his players find warmth amid the demands. Peet is a family man living in a town consumed by rugby league, with two daughters and a St Bernard dog. 'A big f***er,' is the succinct description.
He adds: 'I try to keep myself in a good head space, walk the dog, meditate quite a lot.'
A working-class man from Wigan meditating feels an improbable image.
'It's not like I go and sit up a mountain. I just try and find space for myself. In the garden with a brew. It's important that when I come into the environment here that the lads see someone that's centred.'
The show has moved on from 2024 and Wigan now have the opportunity to do it all again in this new campaign that includes a 10,000-mile round trip looking for two more Super League points. 'It's a fine line between the penthouse and the s***house,' warns Peet at the mention of another domestic clean-sweep.
Five days in Vegas — the training, the media commitments and public appearances — have led towards the big moment and Saturday morning at the Resorts World hotel is quiet. Peet had told his players the previous day to find at least an hour alone, away from team-mates and mobile phones. 'Whatever works for you,' they are told. 'Just find peace and quiet.'
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A handful of players play cards, while winger Liam Marshall has his head shaved on the countdown to kick-off. Farrell makes himself a banana and honey sandwich to take to the stadium in case hunger strikes. Nsemba will say a prayer ahead of kick-off. 'I don't pray for a win,' he says. 'I pray for me and team-mates to be protected.'
The last team meeting at the hotel is brief and ends with a video compilation of UFC fighters Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. The unsaid comparison is that Wigan are Khabib, focused and driven, and Warrington are McGregor, talented but vulnerable under the guidance of Sam Burgess. Wigan beat Warrington 18-8 at Wembley last summer to win the Challenge Cup.
'They have a plan in there that'll rip us to f***ing pieces,' says Peet. 'But when we take them into those deep waters, you'll feel that plan dissolve as the game goes on. That's when the fraction, rather than connection, reveals itself. You'll feel it unravel.'
Peet asks the room for a show of hands on the number of people excited. All are up.
Then they are asked who is feeling the nerves. A third are willing to admit to that, including Peet, whose last instruction at the hotel is for all players to walk closely together through the casino floor and towards the coach.
It is no ordinary game. An estimated 6,000 Wigan fans have travelled to Vegas in an overall crowd in the region of 45,208. The game is to be broadcast live to a U.S. audience on Fox.
The sense of occasion is clear. It has the feel of a cup final and, as is customary for this Wigan side, that meant it was only going to finish one way once Tyler Dupree, whose uncle Billy Joe Dupree won the 1978 Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, scored the game's first try. Wigan's lead clinically stretched to 24-0 at half-time, following further scores from Abbas Miski, who touched down spectacularly, French and Harry Smith.
Tyler Dupree, the nephew of Super Bowl winner Billy Joe Dupree scores the first Super League try in Vegas 🏉🏈 pic.twitter.com/Q7DZbfwtDr
— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) March 1, 2025
Peet, though, chose to raise his voice for the first time in the day.
'This half fellas, we need to ask ourselves if we're willing to get one ounce of joy from the game,' he told his players. 'You have an opportunity here to f***ng demolish them. Leave a legacy of us being here (hand raised to head height) and them down there (hand a foot off the ground). Get the foot on the throats. Be ruthless.'
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Wigan do just that with another four tries to add to the initial burst of four, but Warrington run in four of their own to grasp at respectability. The final word went to Wolves winger Matty Ashton, who brilliantly ran the length of the field. Not that it mattered. It was Wigan's win and day. Again.
Players and staff were joined by Danson on the pitch, celebrating in front of the end where the bulk of fans are housed. A giant plastic bin, full of iced beers, awaited them on a return to the dressing room.
'Your conduct has been immaculate,' Peet tells his players. 'We are the most connected team in Super League, bar none.'
Las Vegas saw that for itself.
(Design: Dan Goldfarb for The Athletic. Photos: Getty Images/Phil Buckingham/Wigan Warriors)