Joseph Patrick Mellor (born 28 December 1990) is an English professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a or for the

Leigh Centurions The Leigh Leopards are a professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in the Betfred Super League. The club was founded in 1878, and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern R ...

in the

Betfred Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

. He previously played for the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

, and on loan from

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Harlequins RL The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club in London, England. The club competes in the RFL Championship. It was a member of Super League from its inaugural season in 1996 until the end of the 2014 season, when they were relegat ...

in the top flight and the

Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at the Halton Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twenty-two rug ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and the Super League. Mellor later joined

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

on a permanent deal in the Super League. He also played for the

Toronto Wolfpack The Toronto Wolfpack are a Canadian professional rugby league club based in Toronto, Ontario, who compete in the North American Rugby League. The club originally competed in the British rugby league system but withdrew in the 2020 Super Leagu ...

in the

and the

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

Background

Mellor was born in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Cheshire, England Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county town ...

Club career

Mellor signed as a professional for Wigan from

-based amateur side Latchford. In 2009, Mellor was awarded Man-of-the-Match in the Reserve Grand Final following a fantastic performance. An injury-plagued 2010 meant limited appearances in Wigan's junior teams, however, he did play in the Under-20 Cup Final win over St Helens. He made his Super League début in rugby league whilst on loan at Harlequins in 2011's

Super League XVI The 2011 Super League season (known as the Engage Super League XVI for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th season of rugby league football since the Super League format was introduced in 1996. Fourteen teams competed for the League Leaders' Shield o ...

, coming off the bench in a 27-16 win over St. Helens in round five. On his return to Wigan, Mellor was sent on loan to Widnes along with

Dom Crosby Dominic Crosby is a former rugby league footballer who last played as a for the Leeds Rhinos in the Betfred Super League. He played for the Wigan Warriors in the Super League, and on loan from Wigan at the Widnes Vikings and the Leigh Centu ...

and Logan Tomkins. Mellor featured at stand-off for the Chemics, scoring tries in the home fixtures against Barrow and

Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The ...

, and a brace away at Barrow. Mellor was once again loaned to Widnes in 2012, and joined the club on a permanent contract after being released by Wigan at the end of 2012. Since permanently joining Widnes, Mellor improved over his years at the club, being regarded as one of the best players in Super League. After the departure of captain

Kevin Brown Kevin Brown may refer to: Entertainment * Kevin Brown (blues musician) (born 1950), English blues guitarist * Kevin Brown (author) (born 1960), American journalist and translator * Kevin Brown (poet) (born 1970), American poet and teacher * Kevin ...

to the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

at the end of 2016, Mellor was handed co-captaincy alongside

Chris Houston Chris Houston may refer to: *Chris Houston (American football) (born 1984), American football cornerback * Chris Houston (musician), Canadian musician *Chris Houston (rugby league) Chris Houston (born 15 February 1985) is an Australian former p ...

, and has been given the number 6 jersey. On 10 November 2020, it was announced that Mellor would join

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...

for the

2021 Super League season Super League XXVI, known as the Betfred Super League XXVI for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of the Super League and 127th season of rugby league in Great Britain. The 2021 season was originally scheduled to begin on 11 March 2021, ho ...

. On 28 May 2022, Mellor played for Leigh in their

2022 RFL 1895 Cup The 2022 RFL 1895 Cup, known as the 2022 AB Sundecks 1895 Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the third playing of the RFL 1895 Cup, a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom. The competition for clubs who play below the top ...

final victory over

Featherstone Featherstone is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, two miles south-west of Pontefract. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 2011 ...

. On 3 October 2022, Mellor played for Leigh in their

Million Pound Game Million Pound Game (stylized as £1M Game) was an annual playoff final rugby league game that decides which Championship team will be promoted to Super League the following season. Between 2015 and 2018, the game was played as part of The Qualif ...

victory over

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

which saw the club promoted back to the

References

External links

Toronto Wolfpack profileWidnes Vikings profileSL profile
1990 births Living people English rugby league players Leigh Centurions players London Broncos players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Warrington Toronto Wolfpack players Widnes Vikings players Wigan Warriors players {{england-rugbyleague-bio-stub