T’Other Side: Leeds Rhinos

T’Other Side: Leeds Rhinos

Head Coach: Brian McDermott

Brian McDermott started his career as a head coach with the then named Harlequins RL in 2006 and took over at Leeds Rhinos in 2010. He is also currently the coach to the USA national team. McDermott’s playing career was as a very successful prop forward with Bradford Bulls where he remained for his whole career. He also received representative honours with Yorkshire, England and Great Britain.

Captain: Danny McGuire

Danny McGuire was appointed as captain of Leeds at the beginning of 2016, taking over from the departed Kevin Sinfield who had been captain for the previous 13 seasons. Danny has been at Leeds for his whole career and has so far played more than 400 games and scored 260 tries.

In the backs

Ashton Golding has claimed the #1 shirt and the fullback spot vacated when Zak Hardaker left for Castleford via Penrith Panthers. In 2014 he played for England Academy and last year he played three games for Fev on dual registration. Jim Keinhorst can play either at centre or second row. He is the only German international to have played in Super League. It is interesting to surmise which position Liam Sutcliffe will eventually settled into. He has been mostly playing centre this season but he has also played at fullback, stand-off, scrum half and second row. Nowadays he is Leeds main goal kicker.

In the halves

Rob Burrow, who is the shortest player in Super League has played the majority of his long career at scrum-half but nowadays he can also frequently be found at hooker. Now in his 17th season with the Rhinos he has also played for Yorkshire, Great Britain and England. He has exceptional acceleration from a standing start, a quality that was already apparent when he played in an under 8s match at Post Office Road! Aussie, Joel Moon, came to England to play for Salford and then was signed by Leeds. He has played most of his career at centre but since the Leeds injury crisis last season he has proved to be an excellent halfback.

In the Pack

Leeds signed Australian Mitch Garbutt in June 2015 from Brisbane Broncos. Before joining the Broncos he had played for Melbourne Storm. Leeds have been suffering from problems in the hooker position but that now seems to have been well solved by this season’s signing of the 24 year old Matt Parcell fom Manly Sea Eagles. Along with his excellent play from dummy half he has proved to be a regular try scorer with 13 already this year. Stevie Ward spent much of last season out with a serious injury but he is now back and once again being compared with a young Kevin Sinfield. In 2011 he was one of three Leeds players to appear for England Academy (the others being Jordan Baldwinson and James Duckworth!).

The Fev Connection

Inevitably, as a consequence of dual registration there are a plethora of players to have played for both clubs.

There are ten Leeds registered players who have played for Rovers in the last two years. The full list is: Cory Aston, Jordan Baldwinson, Brett Delaney, Ashton Golding, Ash Handley, Jordan Lilley, Anthony Mullally, Mikolaj Oledzki, Jack Ormondroyd and Josh Walters.

The 2017 Fev squad contains four players who have previously played for Leeds Rhinos. They are Luke Briscoe, James Duckworth, Darrell Griffin and Richard Moore.