T’Other Side: Leeds Rhinos

T’Other Side: Leeds Rhinos

FIRST TEAM SQUAD

LAST TIME OUT

Head Coach: David Furner

After 4 years playing in Super League David Furner retired at the end of 2004 he returned to Australia and became assistant coach at Canberra Raiders in 2006, stepping up to head coach in 2009. After 4 years he left and became assistant coach at North Queensland Cowboys and was in that position when they won the Grand Final in 2015. For the last two years he has been assistant coach at South Sydney Rabbitohs. This is his first year as head coach at Leeds Rhinos.

Furner was a second row forward whose NRL career began with Canberra Raiders in 1992 and he spent nine seasons there before joining Wigan Warriors in 2001 After two years at Wigan he moved to Leeds for the final 2 years of his playing career. At representative level he played one game for Australia and 8 for New South Wales in origin matches.

Captain: Kallum Watkins

Kallum Watkins was appointed as captain of Leeds Rhinos in 2018 but he suffered a serious injury against Castleford during Magic Weekend, an injury that kept him out for the rest of the season. He has spent his entire career at Leeds, making his first appearance for them in 2008. He has played for Leeds 264 times and scored 139 tries and kicked 101 goals for a points total of 758. All his goals have been in the last three years.

He made the first of his 26 games for England against Wales in 2012, scoring the first of his 12 tries for England in that match.

During his entire career Kallum has never been shown either a red or yellow card.

New signings for 2019

Leeds have made 5 new signings for 2019 including 3 with major NRL and international experience.

Dual Registration and Loans

As we all know Leeds have a dual registration partnership with Fev. As a result there are a very large number of players who have appeared for both clubs.

The Fev Connection

Amongst the 36 that Leeds have named this year in first team squad that there are 11 who have played for Rovers. They are Luke Briscoe, Tyler Dupree, Brad Dwyer, Ashton Golding, Ash Handley, Anthony Mullally, Muizz Mustapha, Harry Newman, Mikolaj Oledzki, Jack Ormondroyd, Nathaniel Peteru and Josh Walters. Luke Briscoe and Jack Ormondroyd were signed by Leeds from Fev.

Tyler Dupree and Muizz Mustapha played for Fev under special RL dispensation in the Championship Shield Final last year.

During last season Brad Dwyer equalled Fev’s tries in a Match record and Luke Briscoe equalled the all-time record for tries in consecutive matches. Also named in the first team squad is Dan Waite-Pullan who has played for Fev in pre-season games this year.

In this year’s Fev squad there is just one player, Brett Delaney, who has previously been at Leeds. Jordan Tansey and Ryan Bailey appeared in earlier pre-season games whilst on trial, but both have now left Rovers.

The Fev squad also includes three ‘new’ players this year who have been signed from Leeds Rhinos but who never got to play in the first team. The players are Spencer Darley, Kiedan Hartley and Dakota Whylie. Dakota Whylie played on loan for Fev in 8 matches at the end of last year.