Bradford Northern In 1978, Hanley signed for
Bradford Northern from the junior club Corpus Christi. On 26 November 1978, he made his professional début for Northern against
Rochdale Hornets in a League Division One match. He helped his club to a 30–18 victory, by scoring a try on his début. He established a regular place in the first team in
1981–82, scoring 15 tries in his first full season. In the following season, he reached the semi-final of the
1983 Challenge Cup against
Featherstone Rovers. Although Bradford ultimately lost the match, Hanley scored a memorable try which was selected as the try of the season in the BBC's Top Try competition. In
1984–85, his last season with the club, Hanley became the first man to score more than 50 tries in a season since
Alf Ellaby, and the first non-winger to reach this figure for 70 years. Hanley finished his first season for the club with 35 tries. During his second season at Wigan he scored 63 tries playing at centre, stand-off and loose forward, an all-time record for a non-winger. In the 1987 season, Hanley was awarded the
Man of Steel award, being voted the player who made the biggest impact during the season. His play that year helped Wigan to their first league title in 27 years. He played in Wigan's
1987 World Club Challenge victory against the visiting
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. Hanley holds the record for the most tries in a
Regal Trophy (or precursors) Final with 3
tries. In 1988, Hanley was in dispute with Wigan and was stripped of the captaincy. He was transfer listed at a then record £350,000. But when Wigan reached the semi-final of the 1988 Rugby League
Challenge Cup against Salford, coach
Graham Lowe recalled Hanley to the team. Upon his return Hanley scored a magnificent
try in the final at
Wembley Stadium. Ironically it was set up by
Joe Lydon – reminiscent of the two tries he scored against Wigan four years earlier.
Ray French stated it was the second greatest ever seen in a final. In 1989, Hanley helped the club reach the
Challenge Cup Final, where they won a 27–0 victory over St Helens in front of a crowd of approximately 78,000 people at Wembley, the first time in
Cup Final history at Wembley that a side had been held scoreless. He was awarded the
Lance Todd Trophy for the man of the match. In his first season with the club he helped them to the Grand Final in 1988 against Canterbury by defeating Penrith,
Manly,
Canberra as well as
Cronulla in the preliminary finals. The preliminary final against Cronulla was a closely fought battle, until Hanley went to set up the try that would seal the victory for Balmain as they edged out their opponents 9–2, the win sending the club to their first Grand Final since 1969. The first half of the Grand Final was a tight contest as
Balmain led 6–4 scoring due to a mistake from Canterbury
Jason Alchin. In the 26th minute, Hanley was wrapped up low by
Andrew Farrar, and as he want to offload the ball, Terry Lamb hit Hanley with a high tackle that went unnoticed by the referee. He hit the ground in an awkward position and was concussed. He played no further part in the match, and his side went on to lose the game 24–12. Lamb said he was only looking to wrap the ball up and there was no intention. Lamb commented in his 1992 book that Balmain had key players such as
Wayne Pearce,
Ben Elias,
Paul Sironen and
Garry Jack that there was no chance to target one individual. Speaking to
Inside Sport Magazine in August 2005, Hanley was asked:
What do you remember about that infamous tackle by Terry Lamb? ''"I don't know if it was caused by Terry Lamb, or if it was just my head hitting the ground. I couldn't tell you because I have never looked at it since. Some people have said Terry got a good shot on me. I suspect, however, it was more a case of my head hitting the ground. I like to think it was accidental. Afterwards, I was concussed and didn't know where I was. I didn't regain all my faculties immediately so, from a safety point of view, I had to come off the football field. It was a shame, but it is a physical game and sometimes things like that happen."''
Have you spoken to Lamb since then? ''"No, I never have. I have never bumped into him. I have to say I respect him as a footballer. I don't know him as a person, but by all accounts he is a good guy. Let me be clear that I have no malice towards him, none at all, regardless of the incident being deliberate or accidental."'' The
New South Wales Rugby League, despite the media pressure, backed up Lamb's version of events and deemed he had no case to answer.
Western Suburbs In 1989, Hanley moved from Balmain to
Western Suburbs. He played a total of thirteen games, scoring four tries for a total of sixteen points in his one and only season for the club. 1989 was also the year in which Hanley was awarded the Adidas
Rugby League World Golden Boot Award, which was awarded to the world's most outstanding player.
Leeds In September 1991 at the age of 30, he joined Leeds as a player and
coach for £250,000, and on his arrival at the club, was immediately appointed captain. The
1993–94 season saw Hanley play in the Challenge Cup Final for the first time with Leeds. In the previous game, the Challenge Cup semi-final, Leeds faced St Helens at Central Park. Hanley scored two tries to put the club back on the big stage for the first time in sixteen years. In the Final, the club's opponents were Hanley's former club Wigan. In front of an official attendance at Wembley of 78,348, Leeds were defeated 16–26 by Wigan. In the
1994–95 season, Hanley set a new world record for a forward, scoring 41 tries in a season. During that season, Hanley helped the club reach the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley for the second consecutive year. Ironically it was the same opponent that they faced a year earlier in the same competition final. In front of an attendance of 78,550 they were defeated, just as they had been a year earlier by their opponents, this time going down 30–10.
Balmain (1996–97) In 1996 and well past his prime, Hanley returned to the Australian club Balmain for his second spell with the club. Hanley stated that "I wanted to be respected by the Australians as well, because their game is so superior to ours." ==Representative career==