{"id":601940,"date":"2026-05-24T20:43:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T20:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601940\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T20:43:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T20:43:47","slug":"leigh-leopards-star-umyla-hanley-on-wigan-warriors-exit-nearly-quitting-the-game-and-england-aspirations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/601940\/","title":{"rendered":"Leigh Leopards star Umyla Hanley on Wigan Warriors exit, nearly quitting the game and England aspirations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

If it wasn\u2019t for Adrian Lam, Leigh Leopards star Umyla Hanley could well be working on a building site. Now, he is one of Super League\u2019s best centres.<\/p>\n

The 2025 Dream Team member came ever so close to giving up on the professional game, with his exit from Wigan Warriors signalling a potential end to an untapped career at the top level.<\/p>\n

Hanley has revealed all on how his exit came about, and how a second chance from Lam has reignited his career for the better.<\/p>\n

A guest post-match on Sky Sports following the Leopards\u2019 win over Hull FC, the 24-year-old was asked whether he saw a future in the game when Wigan decided to part ways with him at the end of 2022.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cNot really, no. I think when I was at Wigan, when I was a young kid watching Sam (Tomkins) and growing up, I absolutely loved it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the game with every bone in my body, but it got to the point where you go from academy or amateur being the best player, and you come up, and you don\u2019t realise (the gap).<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I kind of had to mature a little bit and I didn\u2019t understand that when I was younger, so I kind of fell out of love with the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Lam stepped in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t really have a club to go to after Wigan and luckily enough, Lammy rang me,\u201d Hanley explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have a club so I had to sort something out and get paid somehow.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026Lammy gave me my debut at Wigan, and he gave me it here, so he\u2019s done a lot for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanley had already bought his new gear to start working on a building site, steel-toe caps and a hi-viz jacket, but he would end up not needing them, with the Leopards welcoming him with open arms.<\/p>\n

Brodie Croft\u2019s Leeds Rhinos exit & Hull FC\u2019s unwanted record \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Leigh Leopards star eyes England World Cup spot<\/p>\n

Now, 63 Leigh appearances later, Hanley, when on top form, is undoubtedly one of the best centres in the competition.<\/p>\n

He missed out on representing England against Australia in the autumn, and that is something he hopes to rectify at the end of this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s on every English player\u2019s horizon, so hopefully I can get a call, but I\u2019m just trying to go week for week and try and play my best rugby,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cForm-wise, I feel I\u2019m picking up now, and I\u2019m hoping we [Leigh] can all build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If it wasn\u2019t for Adrian Lam, Leigh Leopards star Umyla Hanley could well be working on a building…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-601940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}