Oliver Wilkes (born 2 May 1980) is a former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

international

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 played as a and in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He has played for the

Sheffield Eagles The Sheffield Eagles are a professional rugby league club that play in the Championship (rugby league), Betfred Championship. The club play their home games at the Olympic Legacy Park (OLP) on the former site of Don Valley Stadium, their forme ...

Huddersfield Giants Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, the birthplace of rugby league, who play in the Super League competition. They play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium which is sh ...

Keighley Cougars The Keighley Cougars are a professional rugby league club from Keighley in West Yorkshire, England who compete in League 1, the third tier of English rugby league. Keighley's home ground, Cougar Park has a capacity of 7,800. History Early y ...

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 ...

(two spells),

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

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 ...

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 ...

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 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 ...

(two spells),

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 ...

Barrow Raiders The Barrow Raiders are a semi-professional rugby league team in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club was formed in 1875 as Barrow Football Club. For the 1995–96 and 1996 seasons the club was known as Barrow Braves, becoming the Ba ...

and

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

Background

Wilkes was born in

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England.

Playing career

Sheffield Eagles

Wilkes began his career at

, making his

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 ...

début as an 18-year-old in 1998.

Huddersfield Giants

He also played in Super League for

Keighley Cougars

He then join the

in the

Northern Ford Premiership The Rugby Football League Championship Second Division was founded in 1902 and was the second tier of professional rugby league in the UK until 2003. During the 1990s a third division was established and there is automatic promotion between ...

Leigh Centurions

He then spent time at

, featuring for them in Super League in 2005.

Wigan Warriors

He briefly returned to Super League with

in 2006. In 2022, Wilkes admitted that he had taken performance-enhancing drugs at his previous club,

, prior to his to move to Wigan.

Widnes Vikings

His next move was to the

. He played for Widnes Vikings in the 2006 National League Grand Final. After the season, he required reconstructive shoulder surgery. In 2007, he scored 15 tries in 34 games with Widnes Vikings before returning to Super League with Wakefield Trinity Wildcats the following year. Oliver Wilkes

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

He returned to the Super League with Wakefield Trinity Wildcatsin 2007. Wilkes was a consistent feature within the 2009

squad, and they managed to secure a fifth-place finish within the Super League reaching the play-offs. Oliver Wilkes Quins

Harlequins Rugby League

He then moved to

, spending two years there before returning to Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Wilkes rejoined Wakefield Trinity Wildcats in 2012.

Leigh

Wilkes left Wakefield Trinity Wildcats to rejoin Leigh in 2014, captained the side Leigh to the

League Leaders' Shield The League Leaders' Shield is a shield awarded to the team finishing the season top of Super League in the sport of rugby league football. Currently, and for most of Super League's history, the championship is decided on the basis of a play-off se ...

, and the Championship Grand Final victory. At the end of the 2015 season, he announced he was leaving Leigh to sign for his hometown club Barrow.

Barrow Raiders

Wilkes left the

after spending the 2016 and 2017 seasons at the League 1 club.

Workington Town

Wilkes joined Workington Town ahead of the 2018 season. He was named club captain for the 2018 season, he played for town for 2 years making 43 appearances and scoring 18 tries, Wilkes announced his retirement in August 2019.

International career

He was named to the

training squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

and was named to the full Scotland squad for the

. He scored the winning try over

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

in Scotland's first ever World Cup win. Wilkes was recalled to the Scotland squad in 2018, at the age of 38, for the European championships.

Background

Playing career

Sheffield Eagles

Huddersfield Giants

Keighley Cougars

Leigh Centurions

Wigan Warriors

Widnes Vikings

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Harlequins Rugby League

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Leigh

Barrow Raiders

Workington Town

International career

References

External links