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Leeds Rhinos: Bluey hails Delaney's debut show
Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McClennan has hailed new signing Brett Delaney as a "pro" after the Australian's impressive debut in the 34-6 victory over Crusaders RL on Friday night.
Centre Delaney produced the match's game-breaking moment when he side-stepped his way out of defence before releasing stand-off Danny McGuire on an 80-metre run to the line.
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Delaney's kick had earlier created the reigning champions' opening try of the new campaign for winger Scott Donald and McClennan was impressed by the 24-year-old's overall performance.
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He said: "You can see that Brett Delaney has got a knack, whether it is the timing of his pass or putting a kick through, which he did for the first try.
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"I know it went through the opponent's legs, but he has a knack for doing the right play at the right time.
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"I thought Brett did well. You can see he is a pro and makes the right decisions."
Delaney suffered a cut head in the victory, but the coach is confident he will be fit to face Castleford Tigers at Headingley Carnegie on Friday night.
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McClennan was also pleased with the performance of New Zealand international Greg Eastwood, who came off the bench to make his long-awaited debut for Leeds.
"Greg's got that nice, light footwork and with that, he's going to break the line and he's got a whack in him, too.
"He was probably a bit exuberant and did overplay his hand a bit. You can understand that, though, he is a young man and he wants to make his mark, but he did enough for the Rhinos to know he is going to be of great benefit to us."
Stand-in full-back Kallum Watkins also caught the coach's eye after stepping in for the injured Brent Webb.
Webb was forced to miss the game with an injury he picked up in training, but McClennan never had any doubts about handing the No1 shirt to 18-year-old Watkins.
"He's played a lot of rugby at full-back, especially in his amateur days. I think he is very good at kick-returning.
"He is a big lad, fast, with great feet and a real threat bringing the ball back and he will learn more about the position as he goes, but he has great development potential in him."
Dismissing suggestions Webb might have suffered a reoccurrence of the back injury which has troubled him over the past couple of seasons, McClennan insisted there was nothing to worry about.
"Brent had a slight hiccup in midweek in training, but nothing for anyone to worry about we are 100 per cent confident he will be playing against Cas.
"It was not planned like JP (Jamie Peacock) but we are sure he'll be there next week."
Meanwhile, McClennan is backing new-look Crusaders to prosper this season in their new home in Wrexham.
"Crusaders were very tenacious, tough and spirited. Good on them. Touch wood they can stay healthy and they will give some teams a good run for their money on their home park."
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
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