There are few families with more stories to tell when it comes to the Super League Grand Final than the Sinfields but, even by their lofty standards, this week will take some beating.
Leeds has been the epicentre of that story for more than 20 years but this week the focus has moved 10 miles down the road to Wakefield.
Jack will fulfil a childhood dream by playing at Old Trafford for the first time on Saturday, when Wakefield Trinity attempt to win their maiden Super League title. Unsurprisingly his father, Kevin, will be there – but in circumstances that make this story all the more remarkable.
Sinfield Sr is in the midst of his seventh and final fundraising challenge to support those living with motor neurone disease, which will conclude at Old Trafford on Saturday and passed through Wakefield on Wednesday.
He will finish the last leg of his seventh ultramarathon in seven days at the Grand Final and will carry the match ball into the stadium for Wakefield’s showdown with Warrington Wolves. Waiting for him on the pitch will be his son, who first attended the event shortly after he was born, when Kevin played in the 2004 final for Leeds Rhinos.
Jack has been in the stands for all eight of his father’s Grand Final appearances but, this weekend, the roles will be reversed. “When he planned this last challenge and for it to finish at Old Trafford, I don’t think even he could have imagined that I would be playing in it,” the 22-year-old says with a smile. “So it’s worked out pretty well, right?”
Just as Kevin will no doubt be beaming with pride at his son’s upcoming debut in a Grand Final, Jack unsurprisingly possesses similar emotions when asked about his dad’s incredible fundraising efforts, which continued from Wakefield’s stadium on Wednesday morning, with a message of good luck delivered to the Trinity squad.
Kevin’s 22-year-old son, Jack Sinfield (centre) has helped Wakefield reach the Super League final. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
“It was really nice to see him this morning before he set off,” the half‑back said on Wednesday. “I’ve missed him a lot when he’s been away because I’m still living at home, so it’s really weird around the house without him! I’m hoping I’ll see him on Thursday when he goes past home and he runs up near our neck of the woods. But I’m so proud of him.”
Jack holds as his favourite rugby memory the 2015 Grand Final, Kevin’s final match as a player which ended with victory and Leeds winning the treble. “I’ve got that picture on my phone still,” he says when reflecting on a family photo from that game. “It was a pretty special moment – hopefully there’s a chance to have another picture this weekend.”
His exposure to the biggest game of the season began much earlier than that, though. “My first ever rugby league game was the 2004 final when I was three weeks old. I have been to every single one of the Grand Finals my dad has played in but the last one really stands out in 2015 for all the right reasons.”
But this is where their respective stories begin to diverge. While Kevin won everything there was to win as a Leeds player, Jack’s career has taken a different path. Unable to force his way into the first-team picture at the Rhinos after coming through the academy, he made the decision to look elsewhere last winter.
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Jack Sinfield left his father’s former club Leeds Rhinos to join Wakefield last year. Photograph: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com/Shutterstock
His lifelong affiliation with the Rhinos over, Sinfield Jr made the decision to move across West Yorkshire and sign with Wakefield. Sold by their vision of a club determined to step out of the significant shadows of their past, Jack may have been forgiven for wanting to do the same, with the pressure of being Sir Kevin Sinfield’s son at Headingley ominous.
But he has blossomed away from that pressure and has played a key role in taking Wakefield to within one win of a first league title in almost 60 years. Just as his father helped deliver a first league title to Leeds in over 30 years in 2004 and begin an era of success, Jack now has the chance to do the same in his own way.
“It’s been a dream of mine to go there one day and emulate him and win one. As soon as I spoke to the club, I knew I wanted to come here. They’re growing, they’re hungry to go and win things and so am I.”
And as they both head for their most memorable venue, albeit in very differing ways, on Saturday, will there be too much contact between father and son? “I’ve spoken to him a little bit but obviously he’s just been really tired,” Jack says. “Hopefully we can celebrate together after … I just hope he gets a shower first.”