West Bowling and Bradford Bulls link to fine Hunslet triumph

Hunslet came fourth in League 1, then lost their opening play-off game to Rochdale.

That left them needing an unlikely four wins in a row, three of them as visiting underdogs, to go up, but incredibly they have pulled it off.

First, they edged out Mark Dunning’s Midlands Hurricanes 18-14 in an elimination semi-final, then got revenge on Rochdale with a 46-26 win at the Crown Oil Arena in the preliminary final.

They then stunned Keighley at Cougar Park last weekend, winning the pair’s play-off final 20-6.

Hunslet outplayed Keighley at Cougar Park last weekend, meaning it was they who went through to face Swinton yesterday. (Image: JT Sports Media.)

But most felt yesterday would be one step too far, as the Parksiders travelled to Heywood Road to take on Swinton in the Championship promotion play-off.

Whitehaven and Dewsbury went down to League 1 automatically at the end of the season, but third-bottom Swinton looked likely to get a reprieve, knowing if they could beat underdogs Hunslet at home, they would stay up.

But in a rollercoaster clash in Greater Manchester yesterday, Hunslet scored a brilliant try two minutes from time through Jack Render to claim a shock 22-20 away win, sealing promotion in the process.

Ironically, Alan Kilshaw left Hunslet at the end of last season, where they lost in the League 1 play-off semis, to join Swinton, so this result was a cruel irony for him.

Kilshaw dramatically resigned as Swinton's head coach in the aftermath of last night's defeat.

As for Muir, he sealed promotion to the top flight for West Bowling in his only season in charge there, before being announced as the new Hunslet head coach last September.

He also worked in various coaching roles with Cougars before taking the top job at Bowling.

Dean Muir put in the hard yards at Cougars and West Bowling and he got his reward yesterday evening. (Image: Keighley Cougars.)

Flanagan Jr broke through at Bulls in 2022 and 2023, where he played alongside his father, but left at the end of last season to join Super League side Huddersfield.

Unsurprisingly, he has not yet been deemed ready for their first team, but his mid-season loan move to Hunslet proved inspired.

He was integral in their top-four finish, then in their play-off run, and he scored a fine try and was named man of the match in yesterday’s stunning victory.

Another Bulls academy product had less to celebrate at the weekend.

Matty Storton came off the interchange bench for Hull KR in the Super League Grand Final at Old Trafford, but his side were beaten 9-2 by Wigan.

Storton, who used to play for Bradford Dudley Hill, was joined in the Rovers team by captain Elliot Minchella, who grew up at West Bowling.

Both Storton and Minchella played in the Bulls first team for two seasons, in 2018 and 2019, before moving to Craven Park at the same time.