Former Wakefield and Bradford ace among Batley duo hanging up boots
Lucas Walshaw (ball in hand) goes over to score a try for Batley Bulldogs in 2022
Championship outfit Batley Bulldogs have confirmed stalwart pair Lucas Walshaw and Alfie Leak will retire come the end of the 2026 season.
Utility Walshaw – who turned 34 earlier this month – is just two games shy of reaching 300 professional career appearances, with 139 of the 298 made to date coming in a Batley shirt over the last seven seasons.
All being well, he will reach that 300 figure before hanging up his boots – with the Bulldogs hosting Salford in their final game of the regular season this weekend before entering the play-offs.
Hooker Leak meanwhile turned 34 back in April, and has so far made 292 professional career appearances.
Every single one of those games has come for Batley, who he first donned the colours of back in 2013 after playing at community level for Egremont Rangers.
Together, the veteran duo will bring the curtain down on their careers this year.
Former Wakefield and Bradford ace Lucas Walshaw among Batley duo hanging up boots
Dewsbury-born Walshaw made his senior bow for Wakefield Trinity in a September 2011 Super League clash against Leeds at Belle Vue, with the Rhinos winning 64-20.
He went on to play 23 games across all competitions for Trinity in total, scoring two tries.
Fast forward 15 years from that debut against Leeds, and Walshaw has scored a total of 75 career tries: featuring for Doncaster, hometown club Dewsbury Rams and Bradford Bulls as well as Wakefield and current club Batley.
Leak meanwhile is a Cumbrian native, and has scored 88 tries in his 292 games for the Bulldogs.
That tally includes a try apiece in each of the last three games played by James Ford’s side – against Newcastle Thunder, Keighley Cougars and Dewsbury, respectively.
Ahead of Sunday afternoon’s final home game of the season against Salford at the Fox’s Biscuits Stadium, play-off outfit Batley announced Walshaw and Leak’s impending retirement via social media on Wednesday evening.
The Bulldogs head into the final weekend of the regular season sat ninth, and can rise no higher. They could though finish tenth should they lose to Salford and Whitehaven beat Cumbrian rivals Workington Town away from home.
If that happens, Haven will leapfrog them.
