Sir Kevin Sinfield has opened up on his relationship with son Jack, revealing the simple rule he has always followed to ensure rugby never came between them as father and son.
The rugby league legend enjoyed an extraordinary day earlier this month as he completed his latest fundraising challenge for Motor Neurone Disease, before watching his 22-year-old son celebrate Grand Final glory with Wakefield Trinity at Old Trafford.
It was a family occasion, with Sinfield completing his seventh running challenge at the Manchester stadium on the same day Jack helped Wakefield lift the Super League trophy.
A conscious decision to separate roles
Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Sinfield explained how he made a decision early in Jack's career to separate his role as a parent from any involvement in coaching.
"I coached him for a very short space of time," he said. "He had two wonderful coaches throughout his community rugby. Unfortunately, one of them was poorly, and I jumped in to help for a little bit."
"I suppose from growing up at home in my early 20s and understanding what my dad was like with me, home was always a sanctuary and somewhere where I got away from rugby, and I wanted it to be the same for Jack."
"Our relationship when I coached him was: when we get out the car at rugby, I'm your coach. When we get back in the car, I'm your dad, and I won't talk rugby unless you ask me. It's been the same ever since. It's been great, and we do talk rugby every now and again."
A challenge inspired by Rob Burrow
Sinfield's challenges have been inspired by his great friend and former Leeds team-mate Rob Burrow, who died in June 2024 after living with the condition.
His latest endeavour saw him run from Hull, visiting all 12 English top-flight rugby league clubs along the way, before arriving at Old Trafford for the Grand Final. The route had been planned almost a year earlier, in November 2025.
"If Carlsberg did Saturdays, we got one!" Sinfield joked. "You couldn't have written that it'd be those two teams that ended up in the final. You'd have gone with Wigan, Leeds. Warrington might have been in your top four or five choices. You wouldn't have picked Wakefield. Not just yet."
Jack's own path
Having spent the early part of his career at Leeds Rhinos, where his father established himself as one of the greatest players in the club's history, young half-back Jack has faced comparisons with his old man.
"We got to sit in the stands and watch it play out, which is pretty special," Sinfield said. "He's lived with having a famous dad, if you like, all this time, and he doesn't know any different. However, he's always been judged by that, unfairly. Now, he's on his own path because he's won his own Grand Final and the monkey's off his back, and hopefully the reference to me is now gone, and he can just go and do what he needs to do, which is lovely."
There was also a moment between father and son shortly before the match, when their paths crossed inside Old Trafford as Sir Kevin prepared to bring the trophy onto the pitch. "I spoke to him on the day, I got to see him," Sinfield recalled. "We were waiting in the tunnel right at the top just before we brought the trophy on, and he'd just finished warm-up and came up, and I spoke to him, which was lovely."
