Liam Sutcliffe (born 25 November 1994) 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 in a variety of positions for the

Hull FC Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and wer ...

in the Betfred Super League and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the

England Knights England Knights (previously known as Emerging England and England A) is considered the feeder team for the England rugby league team. The Knights play a key role in the development of emerging talent, allowing players to gain experience in an i ...

at international level. Sutcliffe has spent time on loan from

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

at the Bradford Bulls 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 Featherstone Rovers in the Betfred Championship.

Background

Sutcliffe was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, West Yorkshire, England. He is not related to fellow Rhino Alex Sutcliffe.

Career

Leeds Rhinos

Sutcliffe featured in the pre-season friendly against

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

in the annual Boxing Day

Festive Challenge A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

. Liam broke into the 1st team due to a long-term injury to ;

Danny McGuire Daniel Phillip McGuire (born 6 December 1982) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or , and is currently the interim head-coach of Hull Kingston Rovers. He spent the majority of his professional career play ...

. He made his début against St. Helens, and went on to play in the playoffs due to more injuries towards the end of the season. In his début season he went on to make 18 appearances and scored seven tries. In 2014 Sutcliffe featured in Round 1 and played in the 2014 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. In his second season, he played 25 games and scored 10 tries and he also kicked 8 goals. Sutcliffe featured in more games in 2015. He started games after captain Kevin Sinfield was injured and proved he could score and kick goals which kept Sinfield out of the starting 13. Unfortunate Sutcliffe had an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL) knee injury which ruled him out for the remainder of the season which meant he missed the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

Final and

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. He played 15 games scoring 6 times and kicking 25 goals. After Sinfield retired at the end of 2015 Sutcliffe was promoted to the starting 13 and was given the number 14 shirt. He also played in the World Club Series against North Queensland Cowboys. He played in the

2017 Super League Grand Final The 2017 Super League Grand Final was the 20th official Grand Final championship-deciding game of the Super League XXII. It was held at Old Trafford, Manchester on 7 October 2017, kick off 18.00. Leeds Rhinos became champions for a record 8th t ...

victory over the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. On 17 October 2020, he played in the 2020 Challenge Cup Final victory for Leeds over Salford at

. In the 2022 elimination playoff, Sutcliffe scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in Leeds shock 20-10 victory over Catalans Dragons. On 24 September 2022, Sutcliffe played for Leeds in their 24-12 loss to

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C. is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside who compete in the Super League, the top tier for rugby league in Great Britain. They are the current Champions, having won the last 4 consecutive titles, and becom ...

in the 2022 Super League Grand Final. Liam Sutcliffe

Bradford Bulls

In 2014, Sutcliffe was sent out on loan to the struggling Bradford Bulls on a one-month loan playing four games and scoring once before they were relegated.

Hull F.C.

In round 10 of the 2023 Super League season, Sutcliffe scored two tries in Hull FC's 20-14 win over

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

which ended a seven-game losing streak.

International career

In 2018 he was selected for

against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the

Leigh Sports Village Leigh Sports Village is an £83 million multi-use sports,
retail and hou ...

. In 2018 he was selected for the

on their tour of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. He played against

at the Lae Football Stadium.

Statistics

Honours

: 2017 *

: 2014 2020

References

External links

Leeds Rhinos profileSL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutcliffe, Liam 1994 births Living people Bradford Bulls players England Knights national rugby league team players England national rugby league team players English rugby league players Featherstone Rovers players Hull F.C. players Leeds Rhinos players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Leeds