Leeds Knights v Swindon Wildcats: James Archer looking to sign off with another play-off triumph

Previously a winner in Coventry play-off finals with Manchester Phoenix and Hull Pirates - neither club still with us - the veteran forward firmly believes Leeds Knights are the team who can help him achieve his career-closing ambition.

Less than 12 months ago, to be in such a position did not even seem a remote possibility for the 35-year-old.

No longer required at Hull Seahawks, his second permanent stint in East Yorkshire coming to an end as a result of head coach Matty Davies’s roster rebuild following a testing inaugural campaign for the club, Archer tried his luck with a call to Knights’ head coach, Ryan Aldridge.

It proved a call worth making, Aldridge seeing the benefits of having some additional experience on his bench on a team still relatively young compared to the majority of its rivals.

The 50-plus point seasons which were commonplace during Archer’s time at both Phoenix and Pirates were not what he was brought in for, Aldridge already had more than enough scoring in his line-up.

But Archer has put his second-tier nous and experience to good use throughout 2023-24 at Elland Road Ice Arena. It will come in handy across what the Knights hope will be two games at the Skydome Arena this weekend, the first of which sees them up against Swindon Wildcats in Saturday’s first semi-final.

“To go out winning a league title is the icing on the cake, I’d never have thought it would happen,” said Archer. “I’ve just really enjoyed myself in that locker room. It’s been nice to turn up to training and I’ve really been enjoying my hockey again and that is down to those lads.

“I’ve had success in Coventry before, with Manchester and Hull, so fingers crossed I can get a third play-off title and bow out on a real high.

“I’m confident we can win it, we’ve got a group of guys in that room who are feeling the same. Morale is understandably high after winning the league and we had a good run in the play-off group phase - that is what you need going into a weekend like this.”

For Archer, seeing out his career in West Yorkshire completes something of a circle for him, one that started back in the summer of 2019 when he signed for the newly-formed Leeds Chiefs.

It was a torrid time for all connected with the club, their well-documented troubles - mainly caused through not having a home rink to play or train in - taking its toll.

Increasingly frustrated and seeing similarities with the last few weeks of his time at Manchester, Archer walked, eventually returning to the Pirates, where he remained until Covid brought a complete halt to all hockey in March 2020.

When Archer returned to Elland Road in August, three of the players who started out at Chiefs with him were still in place - Sam Gospel, Lewis Baldwin and Ethan Hehir.

“I’d been in a similar situation before at Manchester and I just wasn’t prepared to do it again,” said Archer. “It wasn’t the nicest way to bow out because I was genuinely hoping for good things at Leeds - but the overall situation was grinding me down.

“So to have the chance to come back and finally be in that rink as a Leeds player and have a feel for what it should have been like the first time around is nice.”

When the time comes to move on from both the Knights and the sport as a whole, Archer is confident the team and the organisation he will be leaving behind will only go from strength to strength.

“With what the management, the backroom staff and the owners are trying to do in Leeds, it is only going to get better,” predicted Archer.

“The way it is set up here now, it is a really good place to play your hockey. You’re looked after, you’ve got physios, it’s a good locker room and there are lots of good things going on behind the scenes, too.

“It is all helping the club thrive and I think this is just the start of a long period of success here.”