Great Britain and England international rugby league player
This article is about the motivational speaker, leadership mentor and former English professional rugby league footballer. For other uses, see Jamie Peacock (disambiguation).
James Darryl PeacockMBE, (born 14 December 1977) is an English motivational speaker, leadership mentor and former professional rugby league footballer.
Peacock began his career with Bradford Bulls in 1998, which also included a loan spell at Featherstone Rovers, he made a name for himself playing in the second-row winning three Grand Finals before a move to Leeds Rhinos in 2006. At Leeds, Peacock won six more Grand Finals and became one of the most decorated players in British rugby league history. After briefly returning in 2015 Peacock played four games for Hull Kingston Rovers in 2016.
Born in Leeds, Peacock is a product of Bradford Bulls' junior programme, having played as a junior for Stanningley RLFC. On his way to becoming a first team regular for Bradford, Jamie spent a month on loan at Featherstone Rovers making four appearances and scoring one try. He also enjoyed a spell at University of Wollongong in Australia as he learned his rugby trade.[6]
Club Career
Bradford
Peacock made his Bradford Super League début in 1999. He made two starts and 16 substitute appearances for the club, scoring six tries that year. The following year he cemented his place in the side, helping Bradford to win 2000 Challenge Cup success against Leeds at Murrayfield.
During his time with Bradford he won every club honour available, in addition to winning the Man of Steel, Players' Player of the Year and Rugby League Writers' Player of the Year.[7]
Leeds
Peacock joined Leeds in 2006 from local rivals Bradford. He made his Leeds début against Huddersfield on the opening day of the season.
Peacock played a starring role in Leeds' 33-6 Grand Final victory over then reigning champions' St Helens. He played a full 80 minutes to win his 4th Super League champions ring.
Peacock joined Hull KR as a coach for the 2016 Super League season. At the end of the regular season Hull KR finished 11th thus played in the 2016 Qualifiers. Towards the conclusion of the season, Peacock came out of retirement taking up the role of a player-coach due to squad injuries.[30]
International Career
Peacock earned himself a place in John Kear's England side for the 2000 World Cup.[4] He made four appearances in the World Cup that year, scoring an impressive six tries which including a hat trick against Fiji at Headingley.
Peacock played for England in 2001 against Wales. Also in 2001, he capped the season by making his Great Britain début against Australia scoring a try after just 86 seconds of his début in the first test victory at Huddersfield. He then become a permanent presence in the Great Britain squad making 14 appearances, all but three of which have been in the starting line up. Peacock won caps for Great Britain while at Bradford Bulls in 2001 against Australia (2 matches), and Australia (sub), in 2002 against Australia, New Zealand, and New Zealand (sub) (2 matches), in 2003 against Australia (3 matches), in 2004 against Australia (3 matches), and New Zealand, in 2005 against Australia (2 matches), and New Zealand (2 matches).
Peacock played for Great Britain while at Leeds in 2006 against New Zealand (3 matches), and Australia (2 matches), in 2007 against New Zealand (3 matches).[5]
He played for England in 2008 against France. On 16 June 2008, Peacock was announced as the England captain for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup in Australia.[31] In Group A's first match against Papua New Guinea he played as a prop in England's victory. He played against Papua New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand (2 matches), in 2009 against France (2 matches), New Zealand and Australia.
He was selected to play for England against France in the one-off test in 2010.[32]
On 26 June 2012, Peacock announced his retirement from international rugby league.[33]
Peacock released his autobiography No White Flag in 2008, co-written with Phil Caplan.
Since retiring from rugby, Peacock has become a motivational speaker, including aspects of leadership mentoring and delivering keynote speeches for businesses. He developed a fifty-day "Building Champions" mentoring programme in 2016,[34] which over 1000 people have completed, as well as the "Be A Champion" wellbeing programme, which has an accompanying book.[35]
Peacock also makes media appearances providing insight and opinion on rugby.