Exactly five years have passed since Leeds Rhinos – inspired by a heroic Stevie Ward – were last crowned Super League champions. On October 7, 2017, Brian McDermott’s men beat Castleford Tigers 24-6 in Rob Burrow and Danny McGuire’s final game for the club.
The legendary duo bowed out in fairytale fashion with an eighth Grand Final winner’s ring, but Ward’s role at Old Trafford merely added to the drama. The Academy graduate played just eight days after dislocating a shoulder in the play-off semi-final win over Hull FC at Headingley.
To then win the title was a dream come true for the boyhood Rhinos supporter from Morley. “I was in A & E all night after the Hull game and they couldn’t get my shoulder back in,” 28-year-old Ward told Leeds Live.
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“I was awake all night on morphine and my mum was there with me when I was in such pain. At that point I was thinking ‘I can’t do this anymore because my body just gives in when I need it the most’. Anyway, the next morning my shoulder finally got put back into place and I spent that Saturday feeling sorry for myself.
“The likes of Brad Singleton, Mitch Garbutt and Adam Cuthbertson were texting me, saying ‘we’ll do your tackles for you at Old Trafford’. But I thought, since I was a kid, I always played with sore shoulders so why not now?”
And so, with his shoulder in a sling, Ward took the painstaking decision that he would play against Castleford. “I told Brian Mac on the Monday that I was available, so I did some light sessions and rehab on my shoulder,” he remembered. "I was getting texts all week from people saying they were sorry that I was missing the Grand Final, but I knew at the back of my mind that I was going to go out and do something special.
“The day before the game, I went on the tackle pads with the physios and, while it was painful, I just knew my shoulder would hold out. After the hard times I’d been through with injuries, to play and to get the win made it even sweeter for me. During that week, I felt like I had the world at my feet with the opportunity to do something that no-one expected me to do. It felt incredible and to do it alongside players I had grown up idolising made it even more special.”
The night before the game at the team hotel, McDermott’s players stood up and addressed each with their own personal stories.
“Brian is a philosopher and understands the level you’ve got to get to in terms of a group of men working for each other,” explained Ward. “It goes beyond skill and fitness and being at Leeds then was such an incredibly testing environment, but that’s the path you’ve got to take to become a champion.
“Brian knew how to get us up for a big game because he was a great storyteller and always got his message across. Normally before a Grand Final, we’d get a motivational speaker in but Brian said ‘this time, it’s got to come from you boys’. Maggsy and Rob spoke about it being their last game and I talked about what I was prepared to play through to in order to win. One by one, every player stood up and spoke. Once we’d done that, we knew we had won the Grand Final.”
Ward broke into the first-team in 2012 as a teenager while studying for his A-Levels, where he achieved an A in PE and Bs in English Literature and English Language. He played in that year’s Challenge Cup final defeat to Warrington Wolves at Wembley before helping Leeds to victory over the same opponents in the Grand Final two months later.
Once rated as one of the most talented players of his generation, Ward announced his retirement in January 2021 due to concussions he sustained when playing for Leeds. Ward reflected: “To play for Leeds Rhinos at such a young age and go on and win trophies was literally everything I’d dreamed of.
“I went to a 2012 Grand Final-winning reunion dinner recently and to relive some of those moments with my old team-mates was fantastic. Ten years have passed, but so much has happened in between. It’s crazy how life can change and throw curveballs at you within the space of a short few years.
“You really do have to go with the flow by almost accepting the hard times and being grateful for the good times as well. I realised some unbelievable dreams at Leeds that I imagine thousands and thousands of other people would love to have achieved. I would have loved to played for England as well, but through bad luck with injuries it’s something I wasn’t able to do.”
Ward was part of the famous treble-winning side in 2015, playing at Wembley when Leeds hammered Hull Kingston Rovers 50-0. He missed that year’s Grand Final victory over Wigan Warriors due to a knee injury but played in 2017 against Castleford before hanging up his boots last year.
Ward has spoken publicly about how the post-concussion symptoms have affected him after his retirement. The former Leeds captain’s story featured in a documentary on Sky Sports last year but, thankfully, his health has not worsened since then.
“I’m at a level now where I’m managing a lot better,” said Ward, who is not among the group of ex-rugby league players suing the Rugby Football League for negligence as a result of the head injuries they suffered when playing.
“I feel I’ve got more control over my symptoms and I can look at building a life again and progressing forward. Straight after I did the documentary, I had the chance to get away with my partner Natalie.
“We spent eight months in Mexico, Costa Rica and had a long time in New York as well. In terms of my life, I’m not as dominated by it as I was and there is a bit more space between the bad symptoms.”
Ward, bright and articulate, had various projects on the go when he was playing – such as Mantality – and is no different now. “With Mantality, we do a lot of corporate wellbeing and have an amazing counselling service which men are really engaging with over their mental health,” he said.
“It’s been incredible to see and I’m looking to do more with Sky Sports as well as doing a round-table discussion by speaking to rugby league players about their views on concussion. How are things evolving and what do players think is going well? That debate with players in the game would be great. As a game, rugby league needs adapting because when I played, I’d make 50 tackles in a game on a Friday night and then go and do the same in training on Monday. It’s about finding the balance.”
Ward also dreams of becoming an actor, having once appeared in an episode of Australian soap opera Neighbours with Ryan Hall and Kallum Watkins. “I’m speaking to people about doing it, so it could be a possibility further down the line, which would be amazing,” revealed Ward.
“I’ve done a radio play at a theatre in Leeds about the relationship between two friends during Covid. I’ve done some live theatre as a barman as well, so I’ve already got a fair bit of acting experience, plus my part on Neighbours of course!
“I’m doing a sports business management masters degree at Leeds Beckett University now as well. It’s interesting to see sport through a different lens. I want to continue to grow Mantality and build a company or charity where it creates an amazing place for people to work and make a lasting impact.”
Ward’s partner remains a huge support for him. “I’ve not really known anyone more remarkable than Natalie,” he said. She inspires me, she’s creative and I can’t wait until we do a TV show together. I’d love that.”
The tragic plight of the much-loved Burrow, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019, has brought perspective to Ward’s own struggles. Burrow recently turned 40 and Ward and several other of his ex-Rhinos team-mates paid him a visit. As usual, the banter and camaraderie flowed.
“We should make a mockumentary about some of the characters who go and visit Rob and some of the laughs that we have,” said Ward. “Some of the stuff we talk about, and seeing Rob smiling and laughing, is special. Hopefully it gives him that social connection that we all need. It’s dark humour, related to the TV show The Office , but it works pretty well.”
The Rhinos will always have a special place in Ward’s heart and he remains close to the likes of Burrow and Cuthbertson. Ward remembered: “When I did my knee in 2015, Cuthbo came into the changing room after the game and got me up on my crutches and out celebrating with the team.
“That set the tone for a weird and wonderful friendship and I speak to lads like Liam Sutcliffe regularly too. It’s good to see the Rhinos on the up again now. From what I’ve heard about Rohan Smith, he’s a very calming influence and is the right man to build a new culture and start another era of success at the club.
“Throughout all the winning and losing, you create these strong bonds and it’s certainly not easy when you retire, but I’m feeling positive about life right now.”
Stevie Ward was speaking at the launch of William Hill’s newly transformed, state-of-the-art shop on Vicar Lane, Leeds. This exciting, new digital shop also delivers innovations in player safety.
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