Leeds rugby league club Hunslet RLFC set to 'aim high & go hard' as they target Championship play-offs

Hunslet finished bottom of the Betfred Championship in 2025, winning just twice in 24 games, but are aiming for a play-off place in the new-look competition following its merger with League One. Jowitt, a utility-back, was ever-present last season, his first at the club, when he scored 10 tries and 28 goals in 27 appearances.

Son of the club’s former player and coach Warren Jowitt, he admitted 2025 was a “long, tough year”, but feels Hunslet are in a far stronger position this time. “We’re aiming for the play-offs,” Jowitt insisted. “We’ve got a really good bunch this year, with a lot of talent and experience, so hopefully we can start the season well and really kick on from there.”

The odds were stacked against Hunslet last year after they surprisingly won promotion from League One through the play-offs. They were competing against teams with far greater resources, but 2026 should be a more even playing field. Teams don’t play all their rivals and fixtures are based around where sides finished last year, plus derby matches.

The top-10 will go into the play-offs and Jowitt stressed: “We’ve got teams that are more on a par with us, but saying that, we have come a long way from last year and made real progress across the board. All in all, we’ve got a really competitive team this year so I think everyone at the club should be striving to do really well. As a club if you aren’t aiming for the play-offs you shouldn’t bother playing, so that’s what we’ve got to do, aim high and go hard.”

Hunslet have strengthened on and off the field, with Leeds Rhinos legend Keith Senior being appointed director of rugby. Jowitt said: “Keith has been about a bit and he has a lot of experience, which he’s bringing to us. We’ve got people like Eddie Battye and Dan Abram who’ve come in and brought a new lease of life to the club, which was probably needed. They’ve come in and taken us to a new level.”

In addition, a full pre-season under coach Coach Kyle Trout has been productive after he was appointed midway through last term. “Kyle came in last year at a difficult time,” Jowitt recalled. “We’d had a lot of losses so it was a big job to try and turn the ship around.“This year we’ve had a full pre-season and it has been good; it has been tough, we’ve got a lot out of it and we’ve learned a lot. He has put his own stamp on things, which should enable us to do well.”

The Parksiders kick off their Championship campaign against visitors Dewsbury Rams on Sunday and face either Stanningley or Dewsbury Moor in the Betfred Challenge Cup next weekend, when victory would secure a home meeting with Huddersfield Giants for the second successive year.

“For the first 40 or 50 minutes we competed,” Jowitt said of the 34-6 defeat by the Super League club in 2025. “With them being full-time they were fitter, stronger and faster, but I think this year we can give them a good game again and why not try and beat them?”