Defending champions Halifax Panthers will take on Leeds Rhinos in the Betfred Wheelchair Challenge Cup Final on Saturday 25 July at Robin Park Leisure Centre as they reach a second, consecutive final and hunt their first piece of silverware in their bid to retain the treble.
After a remarkable 2025 campaign that saw them lift the Betfred Wheelchair Super League trophy, League Leaders’ Shield and Betfred Challenge Cup, the Panthers head into 2026 as the team to beat.
Hoping to help them lift the Challenge Cup once again are brothers Joseph Calcott and Jack Brown who were both part of the treble winning team in 2026.
Calcott, whose other brother Harry Brown helped England to win the 2008 Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup, credits the Panthers’ closeness to brother Jack who returned to the side in 2025 after spending some time in Australia with the North Queensland Cowboys.
“We’re really close, we’ve been together our whole lives,” said Calcott.
“The only time we ever separated was when he [Jack] went to Australia for those few years, but we still communicated. All three of us are really close.
“When I joined Halifax Panthers, I came into it not really knowing how to play the game.
“I knew the game because I’ve watched Jack and Harry, I knew the rules and how you play but I didn’t know the little things about it so when Jack came back it brought us all a bit closer together, especially me and him.
“It seems like the whole team has bonded really closely, he’s like glue is Jack.
“He’s such a likeable person that everyone now gets along a lot better, we always got along but it wasn’t as much of a brotherhood as it is now in Halifax.”
The Irish International knows exactly what is required when the stakes are at their highest having featured in three finals during his near three-year spell with the Panthers.
He is especially excited at the thought of meeting the Rhinos in another final after falling short to them back in 2024:
“In my first full season in the Super League with Halifax we didn’t win a trophy, we got to the Grand Final but we lost to Leeds.
“That was my first time being in the final so then going from that to then last year where we won the treble it was massive.
“It was huge for me to get that but especially now coming into this year’s Challenge Cup, it’s going to be the first time I play Leeds again in a final since losing to them, I’m really excited about that, I want revenge and to get back at them.
“It’s a bit nerve wracking now being that top team and thinking if we lose this match that’s it, the next treble is off.
“We want the treble-treble at Halifax, we want to go back-to-back.”
Though history may favour Halifax as the competition’s most successful side, standing in their way is a Leeds Rhinos team equally rich in Challenge Cup glory.
Having reached six Wheelchair Challenge Cup Finals and lifting the trophy on three occasions, the Rhinos are no strangers to the demands and intensity of the biggest stages.
“I can’t wait to be back in the final, we didn’t play in any finals last year, it’s nice to be part of the big dance at the end of the year,” said Rhinos’ Nathan Collins.
“We’ve not been in the final since 2023 and we were beaten in that by Catalans - it’ll be good to get back to winning ways in those big games.”
The IRL Golden Boot nominee is already well acquainted with much of the Panthers squad through his involvement with England Wheelchair, giving him a strong understanding of the qualities Halifax possess.
Combined with his own experience in major finals, Collins will be hoping that he can use that familiarity to help Leeds regain the trophy and kick-off their 2026 campaign with some silverware:
“Halifax are a really good team, they’ve got England Internationals, Ireland Internationals, it’ll be a really tough game.
“I’m looking forward to playing against them in the League and obviously I get to play with some of the boys with England and I get to see what they do week on week and how good they are.
“It’ll be a good game. We didn’t play them last year so it’ll be nice to play them again and reignite that game against people I like to call my mates.”
As two of the sport’s most decorated sides prepare to face-off once again, the 2026 Betfred Wheelchair Challenge Cup Final promises to be another memorable chapter in the history of the competition.
Betfred Wheelchair Challenge Cup Final
Saturday 25 July, KO 3pm – Robin Park Leisure Centre, Wigan
Get your tickets here!
