Where are they now? The Leeds Rhinos side from Kevin Sinfield’s 500th career appearance

The eleventh anniversary of Kevin Sinfield’s 500th career appearance is this week, with the Leeds Rhinos legend bringing up that milestone away against London Broncos on August 1, 2013.

2,377 spectators were in attendance at Twickenham Stoop to watch a 30-18 win for the Rhinos, recording a third victory in a row in the process.

Luke Dorn, Ben Fisher and Dan Sarginson were the Broncos‘ three try-scorers, with Jamie Soward on target with all three conversion attempts for the capital club.

Below, we look at where the Rhinos side from Sinfield’s landmark appearance back in 2013 are today…

1. Zak Hardaker

Pontefract-born Hardaker, 32, spent time on loan with NRL outfit Penrith Panthers in 2016, and made 155 appearances for Leeds before he departed for Castleford Tigers in 2017. That move was initially a loan deal, but was soon made permanent.

11 years on from this game, he’s now made over 350 career appearances – including 46 for current club Leigh Leopards. The eight-time England international – who had a second stint at Leeds in 2022 – will join Hull FC next season.

2. Ben Jones-Bishop

35-year-old Jones- Bishop scored one of Leeds’ five tries in this game, and he is also still playing. The veteran winger, a product of the Rhinos’ academy, is now with Championship outfit Sheffield Eagles – who he’s scored over 50 tries for.

Having crossed the whitewash more than 200 times in his career, with almost 350 career appearances on his CV, Jones-Bishop featured 83 times for Leeds before departing permanently for Salford Red Devils in 2015. He is a seven-time Jamaica international.

3. Kallum Watkins

Another product of the youth system at Headingley, Watkins – 33 – is a 30-time England international and has scored over 150 career tries in the space of 379 appearances, featuring eight times in the NRL for the Gold Coast Titans between 2019 and 2020.

It was that crack at rugby league Down Under which saw the veteran depart Leeds midway through the 2019 campaign, leaving the Rhinos having made over 250 appearances in their colours. Having seen a deal with Canadian outfit Toronto Wolfpack fall through amid their financial issues, he’s been with Salford since September 2020 and is now the Red Devils’ captain.

4. Joel Moon

Australian back Moon –  who played in the NRL for Brisbane Broncos and the New Zealand Warriors – retired at the end of the 2018 campaign after six seasons and 170 appearances for the Rhinos, joining ahead of 2013 from Salford (then City Reds).

The 35-year-old would go on to sign for Queensland Cup outfit Sunshine Coast Falcons back Down Under ahead of the 2020 season, but never made an appearance, re-announcing his retirement due to a chronic knee injury. Away from the game, Moon set up his own accountancy firm in Leeds back in 2013, and it would appear that business is still going today!

5. Ryan Hall

Hall – who has played 45 games for England – also departed Headingley at the end of the 2018 season having featured over 300 times across all competitions for his hometown club. Still playing to this day with Hull KR, he surpassed 300 appearances in Super League alone last season

And the 36-year-old winger, who will round off his career back at Headingley in 2025, is now Super League’s all-time top try-scorer. A six-time Super League champion, Hall has also tried his hand over in the NRL, featuring 11 times for Sydney Roosters.

6. Liam Sutcliffe

Making his competitive debut for the club in May 2013, youth product Sutcliffe benefitted from a long-term injury to legendary half-back Danny McGuire. Still only 19 by the time this game came around, the young playmaker would go on to make 223 appearances for the Rhinos before departing for Hull FC at the end of the 2022 season.

Having played once for England, Sutcliffe’s career appearance tally now stands at just shy of 270. Now 29 years of age, this is his second season as a Hull player, and he is expected to join fellow Super League outfit Huddersfield Giants come 2025.

7. Rob Burrow

Debuting in 2001 and retiring in 2017, one-club man Burrow made 492 competitive appearances for the Rhinos, second only to Sinfield in the modern era. The legendary playmaker also accrued 31 representative appearances between Great Britain, England, England A and Yorkshire, scoring more than 200 career tries.

In December 2019, Burrow was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. Over the next four-and-a-half years, together with his family, Sinfield and plenty of other past colleagues, Burrow touched the hearts of the nation and was simply inspiring in battling an illness without a cure.

Aged 42, he passed away surrounded by his family on June 2, 2024. ‘In a world full of adversity, we must still dare to dream’ was Burrow’s very fitting last message 🖤

8. Kylie Leuluai

Five-time Samoa international Leuluai, 46, joined Leeds in 2007 having made over 70 first-grade appearances Down Under between Balmain Tigers, Wests Tigers, Sydney Roosters, Parramatta Eels and Manly Sea Eagles. He would go on to become a cult hero at Headingley, playing 265 games for the Rhinos and winning six Super League titles among many other major honours.

The Auckland-born ace hung up his boots at the end of the 2015 season, and became the club’s Player Welfare Officer. He departed for Warrington in 2017, and remains the Wolves’ Head of Rugby Operations today.

9. Kevin Sinfield

The man that inspired this WATN, Sinfield – whose 500th career appearance included his games for England, Great Britain and Lancashire – is Leeds’ top appearance maker in the modern era. He played 521 matches in total for the Rhinos in total, and this game was number 457. He converted all five tries at The Stoop to earn 10 of Leeds’ 30 points on the day.

Notably, he was thrown into the hooking role for this victory against the Broncos – a position he only played 10 times in total for Leeds. Sinfield is now 43, and has held a number of roles in both rugby league and union since retiring. He recently stepped down from his position as England rugby union’s skills/kicking coach.

10. Jamie Peacock

46-year-old Peacock – the scorer of one of Leeds’ tries in this victory – won three Super League titles with Bradford Bulls before joining the Rhinos ahead of the 2006 campaign, and he went on to win another six league titles during his time at Headingley. Having made exactly 500 club career appearances, the Great Britain and England international retired in 2015.

Joining Hull KR ahead of the following campaign as a coach, he would come out of retirement to feature four times for the Robins in the Qualifiers. More recently, Peacock has worked as a pundit, but also runs his own mentoring programme and delivers talks as a motivational speaker.

11. Chris Clarkson

Leeds lad Clarkson was a product of his hometown club’s academy having joined from local community outfit East Leeds, and made his senior debut in 2010. He went on to play over 100 games at first-team level for the Rhinos, and three for England Knights on the international front, before departing for Hull KR at the end of the 2015 season.

Spending 2019 with Castleford Tigers, he then joined Championship outfit York ahead of 2020, and remained there until the end of last season when he hung up his boots having made over 300 career appearances.

12. Carl Ablett

Partnering Clarkson in the back row at The Stoop was another man representing his hometown club in Ablett, who only ever featured for – coincidentally – London other than the Rhinos throughout his whole career, playing five games as a loanee for the Broncos in 2005.

Featuring over 300 times for Leeds, and winning seven Super League titles, seven-time England international Ablett retried in 2019. Having studied the trade throughout his playing career, the 38-year-old founded ‘Ablett Plumbing & Heating’ in Leeds soon after hanging up his boots.

13. Brett Delaney

Aussie forward Delaney, 38, had already made 81 NRL appearances by the time he arrived at Headingley ahead of the 2010 season, and by the time he departed eight years later, he’d featured 212 times for Leeds, winning four Super League titles. He joined Featherstone Rovers ahead of 2019, but retired before playing a game for them.

A facial injury picked up in his last appearance for the Rhinos flared back up in a pre-season game for Fev against Halifax Panthers, and he announced his immediate retirement. Since, his employers have included the New York City Knights, the New Earswick All Blacks and RFL Championship outfit York. Delaney is now one of Willie Peters’ assistants at Hull KR.

Alex Foster (Interchange)

Two of Leeds’ four interchanges at The Stoop came off the bench to get their name on the scoresheet, and Gloucester-born Foster is one of them. Coming through the youth ranks at Headingley, he only made eight senior appearances for the Rhinos in total, and this was his only try in their colours.

Having already appeared on loan for the Broncos, he joined London permanently in 2016. At the age of 30, including all of his loan stints and appearances for clubs on dual-registration, Foster has now donned the shirts of nine different teams. He is currently in the Championship with Sheffield alongside ex-Rhinos team-mate Ben Jones-Bishop.

Ian Kirke (Interchange)

Forward Kirke hadn’t featured more than 45 times for any of the three clubs he’d represented prior to joining Leeds in 2006, but he amassed 45 appearances for the Rhinos before departing at the end of the 2014 campaign. During his time at Headingley, Hornsea-born Kirke won four Super League titles and a Challenge Cup.

The 43-year-old rounded his career off the following season with five appearances for Wakefield Trinity, and now has numerous roles having competed in Strongman events over the last few years. Kirke – who is a Dog Trainer and Canine Behaviourist – has qualified as a Strength & Conditioning coach and is the co-owner of a gym!

Richard Moore (Interchange)

By the time Moore hung up his boots in 2019, forced to retire due to a serious head injury, he’d played for 10 different clubs including loan stints. Joining Leeds in 2012, the Rhinos were the seventh of those, making 32 appearances over the two seasons he spent at Headingley

An England A representative, the Keighley-born forward – now 43 – accrued 355 career appearances before having to call time on his career. That tally of 355 includes a game for Super League’s ‘under-21 XIII’ against the National League (Championship)’s equivalent in June 2003. Moore still lives and works in West Yorkshire, and is now regularly found in France on fishing trips.

Paul McShane (Interchange)

Rounding off the 17 in Sinfield’s landmark game, hooker McShane came off the bench to score two of the Rhinos’ five tries on the day. The 34-year-old, a Leeds lad, came through the academy ranks with his hometown club and featured 63 times at senior level before departing for Wakefield at the end of the 2013 season.

He would join Castleford just before the end of the 2015 campaign, and remains at The Jungle now having played over 200 games for the Tigers. Three-time England international McShane, currently injured, now has a career appearance tally of over 350. The veteran hooker, who is off-contract, currently looks set to round his career off Down Under come next season.

Head coach: Brian McDermott

Former Rhinos assistant McDermott actually spent three seasons as head coach of London when they were under the ‘Harlequins RL’ name, but agreed to return to Leeds as Brian McClennan’s number two from 2011. Before he got back to Headingley though, McClennan had resigned, and the head coach gig was given to McDermott.

The 54-year-old became one of Leeds’ best-ever coaches, spending seven-and-a-half years at the helm and winning eight major honours – four Super League titles, two Challenge Cups, a World Club Challenge and a League Leaders’ Shield. He eventually departed Headingley in July 2018 after a run of seven straight defeats.

Since, in the British game, the former USA chief has headed up both Toronto and Featherstone as well as spending time as a ‘coaching consultant’ to Matt Diskin at Oldham. Now, McDermott is an assistant coach at Newcastle Knights over in the NRL.

The London Broncos side from Kevin Sinfield’s 500th career appearance

Starting 13: Luke Dorn, Liam Colbon, Ryan Shaw, Dan Sarginson, Chris Melling, Jamie O’Callaghan, Jamie Soward, Matt Cook, Tommy Lee, Mark Bryant, Mike McMeeken, Antonio Kaufusi (captain), Jacob Fairbank

Interchanges: Ben Fisher, Scott Wheeldon, Olsi Krasniqi, James Woodburn-Hall

Head coach: Tony Rea