Hunslet secured promotion to the Championship from a fourth-placed finish in League One thanks to a remarkable play-off campaign.
HUNSLET and Swinton certainly served up a real thriller in the Betfred Championship and League One promotion/relegation clash.
The Parksiders, to the delight of their highly vocal travelling support, rallied from 10-0 adrift to pull off a sensational win through a late try by Jack Render, followed by titanic defence in one of the year’s great nail-biters.
Twenty-four hours later, Hunslet’s head coach Dean Muir was at his desk in his day job as a maths teacher at Guiseley FC Academy. Twenty-four hours earlier, Wigan had made modern-day history by winning the Betfred Super League Grand Final against Hull KR, completing a four-from-four trophy return in 2024 – a feat that, ironically, Hunslet and Swinton had both achieved in the early stages of the twentieth century, in 1907/08 and 1927/28 respectively with Huddersfield (1914/15) also posting the fabulous All Four Cups triumph.
Hunslet achieved promotion the hard way, from fourth spot in League One, with a home play-off win over Midlands Hurricanes followed by against-the-odds victories at Rochdale Hornets, Keighley Cougars and, finally, Swinton. Each of the last three games had extra resonance; Hornets are coached by former Hunslet boss Gary Thornton, Muir joined the Parksiders from Keighley, where he had been an assistant coach, and Alan Kilshaw, who joined the Lions late last year was Muir’s predecessor at the South Leeds Stadium.
Hunslet are now preparing for life in rugby ;eague’s middle section and Muir, who started work on the retention and recruitment process immediately, has shelved his late-October half-term holiday. He said: “This is such an important time in recruiting and I’m very fortunate that my wife and my family are so understanding and supportive.
“Players are coming forward who want to play for Hunslet and I’ll be meeting some of those to find out whether they are of the right character. Our recruitment policy is that we look at the person first. I go out and have a coffee with them, learn about them as individuals and about how supportive their families are, and about their environments.”
Going 10-0 down at Swinton fitted a pattern at Hunslet. Muir explained: “Opposing teams tend to start with their big direct middles, whereas we opt for players who can play for longer. Although we’re as fit as anyone it’s more about strategy.
“We know that we can ride out early pressure and that we will be there or thereabouts at the end. And we stick to our strategies and processes, and stay disciplined.
“Although it’s about character we also have quality in our side. Such as scrum-half Matty Beharrell, Michael Knowles and Cam Berry were outstanding at Swinton while Jack Render is a tremendous finisher.
“We instilled an approach of just having to win a match at a time; that process began with the play-off game against Midlands. Having emerged victorious it was very much about belief and focussing on the next 80 minutes. We’d known for a long time that we were capable of beating anyone in the play-offs, and that’s exactly how it turned out.”
Muir, meanwhile, is keen to pay tribute to Hunslet’s board, which has been rock-solid in its support. He said: “I was an assistant coach at Keighley, and the coach at National Conference League side West Bowling, but they opted for me ahead of applicants who might have been seen as more high-profile. And they stood by me despite there being a lot of heat, early in the year, when we weren’t winning games, which was partly down to the side adapting to my slightly different strategies.
“Our approach has been to ask our players to turn up for each other and to be able to look themselves in the mirror afterwards – and each other in the eye – and know that they had given everything they could.”
Muir concluded: “So much has changed, following promotion, in working towards next season. It’s a different challenge to the one we’d been planning for earlier this year. Our aim is to target a spot in the middle of the Championship in 2025.”
One of several key moments at Swinton was when Harvey Hallas popped a pass out of a four-man tackle for Cam Berry to dart over. “I’ve got it in my game,” insisted the prop. “Dean tells me not to do it, but if you see someone with the skills of Cam there you have to trust in him. And it came off.
“I’ve been five or six years at Hunslet. I feel like I’m still an 18-year-old kid but I’ll be 27 in November so I’ve got quite a bit of experience under my belt. My game’s still developing though and I’m always learning. Michael Knowles has taught me so much and, in turn, I enjoy passing on that knowledge and what I’ve learned over the years to our younger lads.
“That keeps me honest, for example Ethan O’Hanlon always asks me after a match if he’s done ok. That kind of thing’s great, it shows a bit of respect on his part and I suppose I’ve taken him under my wing a bit.”
One of the nicest blokes in rugby league, Hallas, who has since signed a new deal with the club for 2025 confided: “I’m obviously delighted that we won but part of me felt for the Swinton players, and their club. It’s not nice to see anyone in that position, being relegated, but from our perspective we’ll take it with both hands.
“On paper, they were seen as having the better players but ultimately it came down to our lads working so hard together, right from pre-season last November, on dark winter nights. Only three of the lads who played on Sunday weren’t there then, which underlines our togetherness.”
He concluded: “No one outside the club expected us to go up and I’m hoping we retain a lot of our players. The Championship is a tough competition and we’ll have to come up with big performances. I really do believe, though, that we can hold our own.”
Winger Mackenzie Turner, who is on loan from Oldham, scored a vital try at Swinton with a long-range interception that helped peg the Lions back to 10-6. Was earning promotion on his radar when he moved over to south Leeds? “Not really!” is the straight answer. “As the play-offs progressed our belief in ourselves increased. We knew that we were capable of taking any chances that came our way. Most of all, we knew that we could back our defence.
“The victory was a good feeling, up with any I’ve had in the game really. And the atmosphere afterwards was fantastic, both with our supporters, who were very vocal and enthusiastic, and in the dressing room afterwards.”
Turner remains contracted with Oldham. Hunslet supporters, however, would dearly love to see him in the myrtle, white & flame next season.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 502 (November 2024)
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