{"id":479221,"date":"2026-03-16T21:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479221\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T21:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:29:13","slug":"wigan-warriors-assistant-gives-verdict-on-possible-future-as-super-league-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479221\/","title":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors’ assistant gives verdict on possible future as Super League head coach"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Wigan Warriors\u2019 assistant Paul Deacon<\/a> has given his verdict on if he would ever want to become a head coach in Super League, with the 47-year-old returning to rugby league after a decade of working in rugby union.<\/p>\n

Deacon, who made over 300 appearances for Bradford Bulls before moving to his hometown club Wigan to end his career, made the switch to coach rugby union in 2015.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been one of many rugby league legends to find success coaching in the 15-man code, spending all his time with Sale Sharks before leaving at the end of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

That sparked a return to rugby league with Deacon revealing on Sky Sports\u2019 The Bench<\/a> podcast that it was Matt Peet who rang him<\/a> to facilitate a Wigan Warriors\u2019 return.<\/p>\n

Since then Deacon has worked in somewhat of a specialist role, focusing on the first and last plays with Wigan\u2019s coaching ethos identifying those areas of transition as key to winning games.<\/p>\n

Speaking on changes to the sport since his return, Deacon explained: \u201cIt\u2019s definitely changed in small parts like the six agains and the amount of balls in play now, I think, has gone up massively since I left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wigan Warriors coach \u2018still learning\u2019 after rugby league return<\/p>\n

One thing that he identified that has remained constant is the power of possession , stating: \u201cI\u2019ve noticed that you\u2019ve got to play a little bit different, the shapes are a little bit different, but it hasn\u2019t changed massively. Possession and territory are still the most important thing. They\u2019ve not changed at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite only being back at Wigan for less than a year, Deacon was asked if he held aspirations to become a head coach in Super League further down the line, with the Warriors\u2019 assistant admitting he still has a long way to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, maybe. I mean, I\u2019m still learning the game,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been away from it for 10 years, and just them last six weeks of last season were so enjoyable for me to get back into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m nowhere near (ready to be a head coach) there yet. I mean, I\u2019m still studying the form sheet and the team sheets of who\u2019s playing on the opposition, whereas when I left, you just know everybody. It\u2019s things like that that I need to get back into.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that Deacon will be quickly learning the form lines and team sheets in this new season with Wigan having made a dominant start to the year, winning all four Super League matches and cruising to the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wigan Warriors\u2019 assistant Paul Deacon has given his verdict on if he would ever want to become a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-479221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}