Joe Hardy joined Liverpool's academy in January 2020, brought in to provide competition in the U23 side. He started as a youth player at Manchester City in 2015 before he moved to Brentford where he scored 40 goals in 80 games for their B-team. Hardy made his only first team appearance for Liverpool when he came on as a sub in the FA Cup 4th round replay win against Shrewsbury.

On 8th July 2021 Hardy joined Accrington Stanley on a free transfer but failed to make any appearances in the first half of 2021/22. In the January 2022 transfer window he was loaned to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Championship, scoring once in eighteen appearances (five of them starts). During 2022/23 he failed to make any matchday squads at Accrington, spending the last two months of the season on loan at Marine where he scored four goal in eight appearances. At the beginning of 2023/24 he joined Merseyside club Bootle, in England's eighth tier. However he left there after five games, four of which he came on as a substitute.