{"id":911321,"date":"2026-09-30T18:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911321\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T18:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:56:11","slug":"like-father-like-son-sinfields-take-diverging-paths-on-road-to-grand-final-rugby-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/911321\/","title":{"rendered":"Like father, like son: Sinfields take diverging paths on road to Grand Final | Rugby league"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are few families with more stories to tell when it comes to the Super League<\/a> Grand Final than the Sinfields but, even by their lofty standards, this week will take some beating.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Jack will fulfil a childhood dream by playing at Old Trafford for the first time on Saturday, when Wakefield Trinity<\/a> attempt to win their maiden Super League title. Unsurprisingly his father, Kevin, will be there \u2013 but in circumstances that make this story all the more remarkable.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jack has been in the stands for all eight of his father\u2019s Grand Final appearances but, this weekend, the roles will be reversed. \u201cWhen he planned this last challenge and for it to finish at Old Trafford, I don\u2019t think even he could have imagined that I would be playing in it,\u201d the 22-year-old says with a smile. \u201cSo it\u2019s worked out pretty well, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as Kevin will no doubt be beaming with pride at his son\u2019s upcoming debut in a Grand Final, Jack unsurprisingly possesses similar emotions when asked about his dad\u2019s incredible fundraising efforts, which continued from Wakefield\u2019s stadium on Wednesday morning, with a message of good luck delivered to the Trinity squad.<\/p>\n

Kevin\u2019s 22-year-old son, Jack Sinfield (centre) has helped Wakefield reach the Super League final. Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really nice to see him this morning before he set off,\u201d the half\u2011back said on Wednesday. \u201cI\u2019ve missed him a lot when he\u2019s been away because I\u2019m still living at home, so it\u2019s really weird around the house without him! I\u2019m hoping I\u2019ll see him on Thursday when he goes past home and he runs up near our neck of the woods. But I\u2019m so proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jack holds as his favourite rugby memory the 2015 Grand Final, Kevin\u2019s final match as a player which ended with victory and Leeds winning the treble<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve got that picture on my phone still,\u201d he says when reflecting on a family photo from that game. \u201cIt was a pretty special moment \u2013 hopefully there\u2019s a chance to have another picture this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

His exposure to the biggest game of the season began much earlier than that, though. \u201cMy 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this is where their respective stories begin to diverge. While Kevin won everything there was to win as a Leeds player, Jack\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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Jack Sinfield left his father\u2019s former club Leeds Rhinos to join Wakefield last year. Photograph: Alex Whitehead\/SWpix.com\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

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\u2019s son at Headingley ominous.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019re growing, they\u2019re hungry to go and win things and so am I.\u201d<\/p>\n

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? \u201cI\u2019ve spoken to him a little bit but obviously he\u2019s just been really tired,\u201d Jack says. \u201cHopefully we can celebrate together after \u2026 I just hope he gets a shower first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are few families with more stories to tell when it comes to the Super League Grand Final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-911321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}