Grand Final photos: Halifax Panthers’ wheelchair side ‘doing the town and club proud’

Fax led 16-4 early on before holding a 22-16 lead at the break. But the Rhinos fought back to claim their second title with a 52-32 victory.

Finn told the Courier: “Wheelchair rugby is massively important to the whole game. We are an inclusive sport and we want everybody playing the game. I think we are quite good at that.

“Wheelchair is one of the best sports out there for wheelchair users. It’s entertaining, it's fast, it’s skilful, it’s tough, it’s got everything. The Halifax team are doing the town and the club proud.

“They are the leading lights in that form of the game and, combined with Leeds, they are dominating the competition at the minute and it’s nice to see.”

Finn, who joins the coaching set-up at Super League’s Huddersfield Giants, added:

“Halifax is a special place. It is not a decision I have taken lightly, to leave. Circumstances and personal career choices all go with it in sport. It doesn’t stop who you are and what you grew up as, which for me is a Halifax fan.

“Unfortunately for me, the time I have spent at the club has been relatively short-lived in my three stints as a player, assistant and head coach. It is all part of the journey. As a player, I wanted to spend my whole career at the club and that decision was taken out of my hands.

“You always keep an eye on it from afar.”

These two sides are becoming the juggernauts of the sport with Halifax also winning the Grand Final twice, both against Leeds who have appeared in each of the five showpiece occasions since its inception in 2019.

Player-coach Wayne Boardman told Sky Sports:

“The second half, they came out and were the better team. They piled on the pressure and we made unforced error after unforced error, and if we don’t have the ball we can’t score.

“We’ll go away and look at where we went wrong and hopefully next year we’ll be back here again and we’ll be able to come away with gold instead of the silver.”

Take a look at these photos by Simon Hall from Sunday’s Wheelchair Super League Grand Final between Halifax Panthers and Leeds Rhinos.