Zak Hardaker labels former club “a bit of a mess”

Zak Hardaker has played for Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors, Castleford Tigers and now Leigh Leopards in the biggest games.

He made his name at Leeds winning the Man of Steel in 2015 as a treble winner. That season saw him lift his seventh piece of silverware in the space of five seasons with the club and he seemed set to be Leeds’ fullback for the next decade.

But in 2016 he left the club abruptly and in 2017 he joined Castleford Tigers only for that spell to end in a less than favourable way.

Hardaker though is now back at his best at Leigh featuring in the Challenge Cup Final.

That being said, he still had his say on his former club Castleford on the Fully Game podcast branding them “a bit of a mess.”

“From the outset in, it looks a bit of a mess. I don’t know if the coach at the time was the right coach when they actually signed him in Andy Last. I know he’s a good bloke and I just think there needs to be a big shake up at the club,” he said.

“I know everyone keeps going on about they’ve got an older set of group. I know them all as well. I can’t say too much bad about them because they’re good lads and on the day they’re a good team.”

He said on paper they look like a top six team:

“If you went on paper, a sheet of paper for every team at the start of the year, you’d think they’d be there or thereabouts in top six, playoff spot. Whatever’s going on it’s not quite happening for them.

“Then Wakefield with 14 on the bounce losing I think everyone accepted the fact that they’re going down and resurgence has happened there and they’re really full of confidence. They play each other a week after Wembley for the big game.

“I think maybe they just expected things to happen. If you look at the team, they’re all vastly experienced, they’re good players. For whatever reason, it’s just not clicked. Letting Lee Radford go and then getting Andy Last in and letting him go, it’s probably not the best for any club, to be fair.

“I know it’s just happened with Warrington, but I think it should be player-led now. There’s that much experience in the club and the team that they’ve been there have done similar things. I’ve been on losing streaks before, it’s just about getting up and pushing yourself off and going again.”

He also had his say on the relegation dog fight:

“But this year it’s been a pretty tight contest. I think Wakefield could beat us on any given day if we just didn’t turn up and play. It’s definitely a game to mark on your calendar for next week. I think it’ll be a great game to watch and I’m not sure I think whoever is going to lose that game could be a potential to go down. It’s just a bit of a mess at the minute.”