LUKE Thompson learned two valuable lessons over a coffee – he picked the right club in Wigan and he may need beans shipped over from Australia.
The former St Helens man went the roundabout route to crossing rugby league’s biggest divide, via three seasons in Australia.
But now he is back, he is ready to show how his time towards the NRL’s bottom with Canterbury Bulldogs made him better while living on the other side of the world from family changed him.
Meeting new boss Matt Peet rammed home just why he joined the Warriors, if not for what he was drinking.
“Matt definitely looks after the person first and the player second,” said prop Thompson, who is looking to regain his England spot.
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“When I first landed back from Australia, I met up with him and went for a coffee. I sat with him for half an hour but it really felt like I’d been for a coffee with a mate.
“He’s great to talk to and cares about his players off the field. That helps him get the most out of them on it.
“But I’m going to have a look at shipping some coffee beans over if I’m honest.
“And even though it’s only my second week here, I’ve seen glimpses of why he’s been so successful.”
Thompson helped set up St Helens’ dynasty of four Super League titles in a row by winning the 2019 Grand Final before leaving as Covid-19 brought everything to a halt.
From there, the highest he finished in the NRL was 12th but life in Australia, as well as an injury-ravaged 2023 campaign, means Wigan snared a different player to the one that left.
Thompson, 28, added: “The move matured me quite a lot. I learned so much on and off the field about a lot of things, in rugby and away from it.
“I’m better as a person from going. Being away from family was daunting and I’d just been at St Helens, who’d just won a grand Final.
“I had everything here but I wanted to go to better myself and that challenge of getting out of my comfort zone.
“I wanted to grow as a person and as a player. I feel like I did that, I’ve no regrets at all.
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“Wigan offered me this deal early on but I just wanted to get back playing and seeing where I was at. I was in rehab pretty much all year and that was a tough time.
“I wanted to get myself in the right headspace. I got back for the last four NRL games and for me it was a case of getting them out of the way then weighing everything up.”
Now he is back, one date is circled on the calendar – Good Friday’s return to St Helens with Wigan.
And Thompson is already hearing about it now.
He told SunSport: “I’m living with my missus’ mum and husband as our house is being done up and they’re huge St Helens fans.
“There’s been a fair bit of banter but it’s all good fun. It may crank up the closer it gets to Good Friday.
“I’m very fortunate to come into such a good team but we’re looking to build on it wherever we can. That’s the way I’ve always gone about my business, I’ve always tried to better myself every day.
“The minute you sit back and rest is when you go backwards.”