Glossop lad makes debut for Warrington Wolves

Harry Knight, from Gamesley, made his scholarship debut last week for Betfred Super League side Warrington Wolves, against Bradford Bulls.

Harry, who is currently just 15 years old, has been with Warrington for just over a year now and has waited patiently for his opportunity. He also played for the club back in April, in a friendly against Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium, scoring a superb break away try from 60 meters out. Although he now has the satisfaction of achieving his dream of playing for a professional Rugby League team, there have been some struggles along the way.

The 15-year-old boasts an incredible talent in the sport of rugby. From a young age, he stood out and was destined to have a successful journey as a player. His career started at Glossop Rugby Club when he was aged just six. Even then, it was noticed that he was too physical for tag rugby and so he moved to Saddleworth Rangers to play rugby league. Here, the contact starts at seven years old, which was much more suited to Harry’s game style.

Walking in his father’s footsteps, Harry’s dad was a keen rugby league player, playing professionally for Swinton Lions, Salford City Reds, and Sheffield Eagles, as well as representing England at an amateur level. Harry says his dad was his biggest inspiration growing up and he is the main reason he got involved in the sport.

He has been approached by a number of big clubs throughout his teenage years and in 2022 he was scouted by Warrington, and decided to join them, amid interest from other clubs, due to their top-tier facilities and coaches.

When Harry was asked at what point he realised he could potentially play rugby as a career, he said, “Probably around age 12, when Wigan first approached me, that’s when I realised I have a chance of making it if I work hard enough.”

Harry has worked tirelessly on and off the pitch to fight his way into the team, playing a year up against under-16s. He goes to training straight from school, often being forced to eat his evening meal in the car, and doesn't get home until around 9pm most days. On Saturday mornings Warrington can train as early as 7am, which means Harry often has to wake up around 5am. His training is very full on, and he also trains on his days off in the gym.  Harry is always working on his speed and agility at Glossop Rugby Club, who, in his words, are always accommodating and kind enough to let him train on their grounds. He is also forced to eat lots of food to fuel his training and growth. He takes meal preps to school, such as chicken and rice which the teachers allow him to heat in the lounge and has 1000 calorie overnight protein oats every day.

When asked what the toughest part of his journey has been so far, Harry noted, “Not being able to do certain things, I don’t have much time to go out with my friends anymore so I found that very tough at first, but I’m used to it now.”

Harry said making his debut for Warrington Wolves was the most special moment of his career so far, “It was amazing, I brought all my family and friends, and they were so proud. It was very different to any game I’ve ever played in though, there was a lot more people watching than I’m used to and I felt a lot more nervous,” he added.

Harry was also keen to highlight the step-up between the training he was used to before signing for Warrington and his training now, “Back when I played amateur rugby it was just about training for fun and trying to improve, whereas now it is much more competitive. Now I have to train for my place in the team and make sure I work harder than everyone else.”

In his debut match, Harry was forced to play in a position that was quite unnatural to him, he said this was difficult but he enjoyed the challenge, “It was a lot different to what I’m used to, I’ve played half-back all my life and never really played on the wing so I had to watch a lot of videos beforehand to prepare but it was a nice challenge”.

When asked what advice he would give to someone looking to get scouted by a top rugby team, Harry noted, “You’ve got to work hard and make sacrifices from a young age, and you’ve got to do things that other people aren’t, in order to stand out”.

Finally, Harry talked through his plans for the future, “Hopefully I’ll be playing first-team rugby one day, but I’m trying to think more short-term, I need to work as hard as I can to try and get an academy contract next year and then we’ll go from there.”

The future is looking very bright for this young man, and if he continues to work as hard as he has done over the next couple of years, there is no reason why he can’t go to the very top of the sport.