Brad Singleton has never been afraid to take the hard road in a hugely successful career. Now it has led him back home to Cumbria, with a new challenge on the horizon when he finally hangs up his boots.

IF YOU want to get an insight into the mindset of Brad Singleton, this story from his teenage amateur boxing career probably sums it up as well as anything else.

“I remember back when I was 15, I was a carded amateur boxer and there weren’t many people of my height and weight around this area,” Singleton, now back home in Barrow after a 16 year Super League career which has taken in stops at Leeds, Toronto, Wigan, Salford and Castleford, tells Rugby League World.

“So, at 15 years old, I had to jump on a flight to Guernsey with another boxer who was about 35.

“I flew over there and had my first boxing bout, and I feel like it’s shaped me because I’ve enjoyed each situation when it creeps up to go the harder route.”

It was that mindset which saw him decide to make the move from South Cumbria to West Yorkshire aged just 16 to join Leeds Rhinos.

It was the same mindset which helped him cope with the financial collapses Toronto Wolfpack and Salford Red Devils suffered while he was playing for them, too.

And it is the same mindset which led to him accepting Workington Town’s offer to become their head coach when he hangs up his boots at the end of this season.

Singleton’s playing career has brought him full circle, from coming through the youth ranks at community club Barrow Island to now seeing it out with Barrow Raiders in the Betfred Championship, having joined them in June following his release from Castleford Tigers.

The 33-year-old had always intended to move back to his home-town anyway, but the chance to write the final chapter of his career in a Raiders shirt as Paul Crarey’s men aim for the Championship play-offs made it perfect timing for him.

Now settled near the Walney Island beaches with his partner and three sons – a fourth is due to be born in November – plus two Super League Grand Final winners’ rings and two Challenge Cup Final winners’ medals, the prop is filled with a mix of contentment and pride.

“I’m thankful for myself for making the decision [to join Leeds at 16] and proud of myself for making the decision to jump in the deep end and see where it takes me,” Singleton said.

“I’ve got an appetite for where I want to be, so I was proud of what’s happened and grateful it all panned out probably better than I imagined – but proud of that decision of making that leap.

“Probably the biggest feelings are I’m content, but I’m also proud. I’m a Barrow lad and I’m always proud to be from Barrow, so to come back home was always going to be the final destination.

“To do it after going through what I’ve gone through – it’s nice.”

Singleton’s route to Super League was a road less travelled, being spotted by Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves after being selected for England community game camps rather than being on a scholarship and then graduating to the academy.

Faced with the choice of either travelling up and down the M6 several times a week to be part of the Wire set-up or upping sticks and moving to Leeds full time, he embraced the chance to do the latter and never looked back.

Sharing a changing room with the likes of Kevin Sinfield, Rob Burrow and Jamie Peacock, to name but a few of the icons in the Rhinos team at that time, could have easily been overwhelming for the teenage front-rower.

Yet Singleton approached it with the mentality of proving to the coaches he could help the team and it was rewarded with being part of the 2015 Challenge Cup and Grand Final triumphs, plus the Old Trafford success two years later which brought the curtain down on Leeds’ golden era.

A move to Toronto on a three-year deal lasted just four matches due to a knee injury and the Canadian side’s collapse during the Covid-19-affected 2020 season, although being picked up by Wigan that September led to him being part of another Cup success two years later.

Now back home after stints with Salford and Castleford, and set to embark on a new adventure up the coast in Workington next year, Singleton is eager to help the county’s next generation of players seize the same opportunity he earned.

Cumbrian contemporaries of his such as Morgan Knowles, now plying his trade in the NRL with the Dolphins after over 200 appearances for St Helens, fellow former Leeds forward James Donaldson, and the now-retired duo of Lee Mossop and Shaun Lunt have also scaled the heights of the club and international game.

But Singleton believes he and others are just a microcosm of the talent in both the Barrow area and West Cumbria, and his view reflects many of those which are commonly held among Cumbria’s rugby league aficionados.

“What I want to do is help these Cumbrian lads get on a similar path to me, to go experience some of the things I’ve experienced because it’s great life experience,” Singleton said.

“If I can do that, I’ll do it any way possible. I’m trying to give these kids some sort of path through because I don’t think it’s always clear for a Cumbrian to get to Super League because we’re geographically so far up, I don’t think there are plenty of eyes on us.

“We get described as a hotbed often enough, but I don’t think Cumbria is doing enough about it and I don’t think rugby league in general is doing enough about it.

“You’ve got a county that is hungry and still loves the game, and in the bigger picture where rugby league is seen as being on a decline you’ve got a county here which is in love with the sport. If I can do even a tiny bit, it’ll help our cause.”

Singleton is acutely aware of the need for the county’s three professional clubs to develop their own players as well, something he was unequivocal about in his first meeting with Workington chairman Graeme Peers and future director of rugby Jonty Gorley, who will be aiming to strengthen the links between the community and professional games as part of his new role.

The chance to begin his coaching journey with Workington came about when Town initially contacted him about playing for them, just as his younger brother Perry did 80 times between 2017 and 2019, and again in 2021 and 2022.

Turning down that opportunity due to his desire to finish his playing days with Barrow this season, Singleton was then offered the chance by Town to succeed Gorley as head coach when he moves into his upstairs role at the end of the 2026 campaign.

Singleton has long had ambitions to move into coaching, and initially thought he might be able to find a full-time or part-time position in an academy or as an assistant at a club near to where he was living in Billinge.

He admitted thinking moving back to Barrow may restrict those opportunities, but jumped at the chance to take his first steps with Workington and put into practice the game plans he has had whirling around his mind for all these years.

Although his coaching experience is limited, Singleton has benefited from being in a lot of player-led environments in Super League, not to mention playing under some of the finest coaches of his generation.

England boss Brian McDermott was in charge for much of his time at Leeds, while Adrian Lam and Matt Peet both coached him at Wigan, and Paul Rowley oversaw Salford during his spell with the Red Devils.

His Barrow boss Crarey is regarded as one of the finest head coaches in the Championship as well, and working under them all has given Singleton the ideal education.

“I think it would be daft if I don’t try coaching because I’ve been under some unbelievable ones,” Singleton said. “They’re all exciting, but I’ll take bits and I’ll probably shape the way I see the game from all of them.

“Brian Mac has probably had the biggest influence because I had him for 10 or 11 years. I’ve got my own way I see the game, but it’ll be shaped by a lot of them – and I’m not ashamed to say that because they’re all successful in their own right.

“Within Super League and a full-time environment, it’s a lot more player-led, so there’s a lot of experience developed there from delivering to players. It’s probably more from my playing career, I feel like I’m ready for a crack.”

Singleton is embracing life outside of full-time rugby league too, having taken a job in the education sector with a provider of alternative provision for children with special educational needs or behavioural issues after returning to Barrow.

It is already proving highly rewarding for the former Ireland international, who is going into whatever the next chapter of his life holds with the same mindset as the teenager who was happily hopping on flights to the Channel Islands and moving to a completely new city to further his ambitions.

“Life is too short,” Singleton said. “You only get one life and you don’t want to live with any regrets – so go grab the opportunity with two hands.”

First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 524 (September 2026)