Zak Hardaker

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Zak Hardaker
Personal information
Born (1991-10-17) 17 October 1991
Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 90 kg (14 st 2 lb)[1]
Playing information
Position Fullback, Wing, Centre, Stand-off/Five-eighth
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2010 Featherstone Rovers 14 22 0 0 88
2011– Leeds 79 42 16 0 200
2011 Featherstone Rovers (Loan) 5 5 0 0 20
Total 98 69 16 0 308
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
2011–2013 England Knights 3 3 9 0 30
2012–2013 England 2 3 0 0 12
As of 19 October 2013

Zak Hardaker (Born (1991-10-17) 17 October 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer for Leeds. He can play on the Fullback, Wing, Stand-off/Five-eighth, and has most recently started playing as a Centre.[2] He previously played for Featherstone Rovers in the Co-operative Championship, before joining Leeds at the end of the 2010 season.

Featherstone Rovers

2010: Breaking onto the scene

Hardaker joined Featherstone Rovers from local amateur side Featherstone Lions after leaving school at Carlton High School in Pontefract. He previously played for his home town club Knottingley Rockware before signing pro terms with Featherstone Rovers from junior club Featherstone Lions.
He scored a hat-trick of tries on his 2010 début for Featherstone Rovers against Hunslet, and went on to score 22-tries in 14-games in all competitions in his début season. This included two tries in Rovers extra-time 23-22 Co-operative Grand Final defeat to Halifax.
He was named joint Co-operative Championship Young Player of the Year, along with Batley's Gareth Moore.

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Hunslet Hawks NRC 04/04/10 3 – – 12
Warrington Wolves Cup 18/04/10 1 - – 4
Keighley Cougars C 22/04/10 2 – – 8
Toulouse Olympique C 06/05/10 2 – - 8
Widnes Vikings C 27/06/10 1 - - 4
Keighley Cougars C 04/07/10 1 – – 4
Leigh Centurions C 08/07/10 1 – - 4
Whitehaven C 25/07/10 2 - - 8
Sheffield Eagles C 01/08/10 2 - - 8
Batley Bulldogs C 08/08/10 3 – – 12
Barrow Raiders C 22/08/10 2 – - 8
Halifax RLFC C 26/09/10 2 – - 8
Total 14 22 - - 88

Leeds Rhinos

2011: Signing for the Rhinos

Hardaker signed for the Rhinos in October 2010 for a transfer fee of around £60,000 and was awarded the number 27 jersey.[3] He trained with the Rhinos senior squad during pre-season & made two appearances in pre-season friendlies, before returning to Rovers on a dual contract for the 2011 season.

Back to Featherstone Rovers

As part of the deal with Leeds, Hardaker rejoined the Featherstone Rovers where he was meant to play out the rest of the season to develop him more for First Grade football. While back at the club he scored 5 tries in 5 games.

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
Doncaster RLFC NRC 04/02/11 1 – – 4
York City Knights NRC 13/02/11 1 - – 4
Barrow Raiders NRC 20/02/11 1 – – 4
Widnes Vikings NRC 26/02/11 1 – - 4
Leigh Centurions C 10/03/11 1 - - 4
Total 5 5 - - 20

Recall to Leeds

In March 2011, due to injuries to Rhinos wingers Ben Jones-Bishop & Lee Smith, Hardaker was called back to the club & made his Super League début against St Helens at Headingley. Hardaker scored a try after some great handling but it was to no avail as the Rhinos went down 30-16. Arguably Hardaker's best match for Leeds was in the play off game against Huddersfield Giants, scoring a hat trick and picked up the man of the match award (playing in the centres) helping Leeds to a 34-28 victory. He also scored the final try in the 2011 Engage Super League Grand Final as Leeds defeated St Helens RLFC 32-16 at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Opponent Comp Date Tries Goals F/G Points
St Helens SL 19/03/11 1 - - 4
Catalans Dragons SL 13/05/11 2 - – 8
Quins RL Cup 20/05/11 1 – – 4
Warrington Wolves SL 27/05/11 - – - -
St Helens SL 03/06/11 - - - -
Hull KR SL 12/06/11 1 - - 4
Crusaders SL 17/06/11 - - – -
Wigan Warriors SL 01/07/11 2 – – 8
Hull FC SL 15/07/11 - – - -
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats SL 02/09/11 - - - -
Huddersfield Giants SL 11/09/2011 1 - - 4
Hull FC SLPO 18/09/2011 - - – -
Huddersfield Giants SLPO 23/09/11 3 – – 12
Warrington Wolves SLPO 30/09/2011 - - – -
St Helens SLPO 08/10/11 1 – – 4
Total 15 12 - - 48

England Knights

In October 2011 Hardaker was named in the England Knights squad after impressing for the Rhinos throughout the season.

2012: Number 4

Hardaker was handed the number 4 jersey for the 2012 season, taking over from long time servant and Rhinos International Centre, Keith Senior. However, following injury to Brent Webb, he moved to fullback for the latter half of the season and showed excellent form as Leeds defended their Super League title. Hardaker made his England debut at fullback at the end of the season, and following Webb's departure from the club he has taken over as first-choice fullback for the 2013 season.

2013 Season

In 2013 Hardaker led a 42-14 victory for Leeds over Salford in the Super League but suffered a broken thumb and ended up missing the World Club Challenge match against Melbourne Storm.[4][5] After he recovered from the injury he played against England Knights and won 52-16.[6] During the 2013 Rugby World Cup, which was after his win over Samoa, he and Tom Burgess played against Cardiff, Australia.[7]

Stats

By Team

Team Games Tries Goals F/G Points
Bradford Bulls - - - - -
Castleford Tigers - - - - -
Catalans Dragons 1 2 - – 8
Crusaders 1 - - – -
Huddersfield Giants 1 3 - – 12
Hull FC 2 - - - -
Hull KR 1 1 - - 4
London Broncos 1 1 - - 4
Salford City Reds - - - – -
St Helens 3 2 - – 8
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 1 - - – 0
Warrington Wolves 3 1 - – 4
Wigan Warriors 1 2 - – 8
Total 16 13 - - 52

By Competition

Competition Games Tries Goals F/G Points
Super League 10 7 - – 28
Play Offs 4 4 - – 12
Challenge Cup 2 2 - – 8
Championship 13 19 - – 76
Northern Rail Cup 5 7 - – 28
Total 34 39 - - 156

Honours

Grand Final: 2

2011, 2012

World Club Challenge: 1

2012

References

  1. ↑ "Leeds Rhinos Players & Coaches 1st Team". web page. Leeds Rhinos. 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2011. 
  2. ↑ "Zak Hardaker Player Stats". Retrieved 21 June 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Leeds sign hottest prospect Zak Hardaker from Featherstone". The Guardian. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2010. 
  4. ↑ "Leeds suffer setback as Zak Hardaker is ruled out of World Club Challenge against Melbourne Storm". The Telegraph. 18 February 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013. 
  5. ↑ Neil Barraclough (15 February 2013). "Leeds 42 Salford 14: Hardaker a major doubt for World Club Challenge after injury". Daily Mail. Retrieved 29 October 2013. 
  6. ↑ "RLWC2013: Hardaker bides time in pursuit of honours". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 29 October 2013. 
  7. ↑ James Riach (21 October 2013). "'Embarrassed' England can still sparkle, says Australia coach Tim Sheens". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 October 2013. 

References

    External links

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