Zak Hardaker

Zak Alexander Hardaker (born 17 October 1991) is an English professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Leigh Leopards in the Super League.

He has played for the England Knights, England and Great Britain at international level.

Hardaker previously played for as a and on the for the Featherstone Rovers in the Championship, and the Leeds Rhinos over two separate spells in the Super League.

He has spent time on loan from Leeds at the Penrith Panthers in the NRL and the Castleford Tigers in the Super League.

Hardaker has won two Challenge Cups and three Super League championships with Leeds.

He scored a hat-trick of tries on his 2010 début for the 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 the Featherstone Rovers' extra-time 22–23 defeat by Halifax in the Co-operative Grand Final.

At the end of the season he was named joint Co-operative Championship Young Player of the Year, along with Gareth Moore of Batley Bulldogs.

Hardaker signed for Leeds in October 2010 for a transfer fee of around £60,000 and was awarded the number 27 jersey.

He trained with the Rhinos senior squad during pre-season and made two appearances in pre-season friendlies, before returning to Featherstone Rovers on a dual contract for the 2011 season.

He made five further appearances for Featherstone, scoring five tries.

In March 2011, due to injuries to Leeds 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 in Leeds' 30–16 loss.

Hardaker then featured sporadically for Leeds throughout the season; arguably his best match was in the playoff game against Huddersfield, in which he scored a hat-trick and picked up the man of the match award in a 34–28 victory.

He also scored the final try in the 2011 Super League Grand Final as Leeds defeated St Helens 32–16 at Old Trafford, Manchester.

Hardaker was handed the number 4 jersey for the 2012 season, taking over from long-time servant Keith Senior.

However, following an injury to Brent Webb, he moved to fullback for the latter half of the season and showed excellent form as Leeds successfully defended their Super League title.

Hardaker was awarded the 2012 Super League Young Player of the Year.

He played in the 2012 Challenge Cup Final defeat by the Warrington Wolves at Wembley Stadium.

He played in the 2012 Super League Grand Final victory over Warrington at Old Trafford.

At the start of 2013, Hardaker suffered a broken thumb in a 42–14 victory for Leeds over Salford, causing him to miss the 2013 World Club Challenge match against Melbourne Storm.

Hardaker was part of the Leeds squad that won the 2014 Challenge Cup Final with victory over Castleford at Wembley Stadium.

He earned his first selection in the Super League Dream Team at the end of the season.

His form also saw him earn a recall to the England squad for the 2014 Four Nations, however, he did not feature in the tournament.

Individually he has been named to the Super League Dream Team on two occasions, and was the 2015 Man of Steel.

Hardaker's form continued in 2015, and he was part of the Leeds squad that won the 2015 Challenge Cup, with victory over the Hull Kingston Rovers at Wembley Stadium.

In September 2017, Hardaker failed a drugs test after testing positive for cocaine.

He was subsequently dropped by Castleford and England and missed the 2017 Super League Grand Final, which Castleford lost 24–6 to Leeds, and the 2017 Rugby League World Cup before being dismissed by Castleford on 21 February 2018.

On 30 April 2018 UK Anti-Doping announced that Hardaker was banned from all sports for 14 months, backdated to the date of the original failed drugs test and suspension on 8 September 2017.

Whilst still suspended, Hardaker signed for Wigan in May 2018 before joining them in November 2018 after his suspension ended.

Whilst preparing for his comeback, he was banned from driving after being arrested for drink-driving at the end of September 2018.

On 20 January 2019 he made his debut for Wigan, having not played for 16 months, and scored 12 points in their 28-18 pre-season friendly victory over the Salford Red Devils.

On 22 April 2022, it was announced that Hardaker had left Wigan with immediate effect, to return to his family base in Yorkshire, and pursue other opportunities close to home, after he was dropped from the team, for the Easter weekend fixtures against St Helens and Wakefield respectively.

On 27 April 2022, Hardaker rejoined Leeds Rhinos until the end of the season, and was selected in the 21 man squad to face Hull KR on 29 April.

However, on 28 April, it was reported that Hardaker had collapsed, and suffered a seizure whilst out on a walk with his son, and was taken to hospital in Wakefield as a precaution, before being discharged.

Due to health and safety reasons, he did not play.

Hardaker is now playing for Leigh Leapards in the Super League.

Hardaker was born in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England.

Hardaker joined the Featherstone Rovers from the local amateur side Featherstone Lions after leaving Carleton High School in Pontefract.

He previously played for his hometown club Knottingley Rockware before signing professional terms with the Featherstone Rovers.