James Bentley goes for Grand Final glory after wondering if he even had a job
JAMES Bentley has dreams of Grand Final glory after wondering if he would even have a job when a former club went under.
The St Helens back-rower is one of rugby league’s emerging stars and could go all the way when they face Wigan in tomorrow’s showpiece.
That is a million miles from where he was just over three years ago, when he lived at his mum and dad’s house wondering if he even had a career.
Bentley was at Bradford when they were liquidated in 2017 but thankfully they were almost immediately reformed and he was kept on.
Now he has kicked on and his career may go full circle from a 12-point deduction in the Championship, that ultimately saw the Bulls relegated to the bottom tier, at Hull’s KCOM Stadium.
Bentley recalled: “I didn’t even have a job then, my contract was null and void.
“I was living at home still, so I didn’t really have proper responsibilities. I just turned up and played rugby.
“It would’ve been more stressful for a lot of the older lads who had mortgages and things like that to worry about.
“Bradford went into administration at first, then the club was liquidated. We all got told we were free agents and could join any club we wanted.
“Thankfully, though, new owners came in and started up again, offered me a contract and I stayed. The squad at the time was tiny and in a way, it worked out well for us young lads
“The circumstances of this game are a lot different than playing to overturn a points deduction. Back then, I’d have never thought I’d be playing in a Grand Final.”
Bentley can play a multitude of positions but overcame competition to nail down a back row spot in Kristian Woolf’s side. When he was younger it was a multitude of sports.
Gymnastics was a particular strong point when he was younger, while football, rugby league, rugby union and athletics were also on his rota.
But he revealed he only concentrated on the 13-a-side code after parents Michelle and Tom sat him down – his sport was impacting on his sister.
The 23-year-old added: “When I was five or six-years-old, I was a gymnast and was on a programme for that.
“I ended up doing gymnastics with this programme at Leeds Carnegie University as it was two or three nights a week for three or four hours.
“That was intense. I remember them having me in the splits and them ramming me down, it was proper intense stuff. That’s what you had to do if you were going down that route.
“But I wanted to play out with my mates rather than train all the time. Then I played all sorts, football, rugby, swimming, diving and ice hockey.
“I used to go to a skate park and roller blading then I went to an ice skating party in Bradford and someone saw me whizzing around and asked if I fancied doing ice hockey.
“I started doing that but my mum and dad sat me down and said, ‘It’s getting too much, you’ll have to pick one. It’s not fair on your sister following you around every night to your different sports.’
“I picked rugby as that’s the one I enjoyed most at the time. Looking back, it’s paid off.”