At Leigh Sports Village, Josh Charnley put on a clinical finishing masterclass, scoring three tries as the Leigh Leopards dismantled Hull FC 42–6 in a lopsided Super League encounter that left no doubt about which team belonged in a Grand Final conversation. The veteran wing's hat-trick brought him to 269 career Super League tries, narrowing the gap to just two touchdowns behind Ryan Hall's record of 271—a mark within touching distance as the season unfolds.
But the performance belonged as much to 24-year-old Umyla Hanley, the Leopards' centre and son of Wigan legend Ellery, whose precision, pace, and vision orchestrated the demolition from start to finish. Where Hull FC struggled to string passes together, Hanley threaded the ball with intuition and urgency. His electrifying burst down the sideline to set up Charnley's hat-trick try exemplified the kind of magic that separates teams destined for playoff pushes from those treading water. Hanley added three assists and a try of his own—a performance that nearly upstaged Charnley's hat-trick in a match where the Leopards scored nine tries overall.
The gap between these sides became clear once the opening 25 minutes passed. Despite trailing 6–4 at the quarter-hour mark in what was a scrappy, defensive opening, Leigh's quality eventually overwhelmed their visitors. Under Adrian Lam's guidance, the Leopards have now won four of their last five matches, climbing closer to their Grand Final ambitions. While they remain seventh in the table, they have cut the gap to the top six down to just two points—a meaningful position from which to make a late-season run.
Hull FC's afternoon was made considerably harder by logistics and injury. The Black and Whites arrived at the ground at 6:20 p.m. after traffic disruptions on the M62 forced an unplanned detour, leaving them without their usual pre-match routine. More damaging still, they lost full-back Davy Litten to a medial ligament injury sustained in training, sidelining him for up to six weeks. These setbacks compounded what interim coach Andy Last acknowledged was a second-half collapse. "In the second half it just got away from us," Last told BBC Radio Humberside, noting that Hull managed to debut a couple of young players but lacked the energy to mount sustained resistance. The loss marked Hull's fifth defeat in six Super League outings—a run that suggests turnaround will be slow in coming.
For Leigh, the night was nearly perfect. Cook converted three goals, while tries also came from Towse, Halton, Armstrong, Hodgson, and Lam across an attack that hummed with coherence and purpose. The only blemish came when Cook handed over kicking duties to Hanley after missing five of his first six attempts—an experimental moment that yielded a woeful conversion, a small blip in an otherwise dominant display.
As the season reaches its decisive stretch, Hanley's form and Charnley's finishing suggest Leigh have the offensive machinery to sustain a top-six push and genuinely compete for a Grand Final berth. Hull, meanwhile, will need answers on both the field and off it if they hope to reverse course.