Leeds Chiefs hometown hero Bobby Streetly keen to play part on Elland Road opening night

As has been well-documented, it has taken far longer than anyone probably expected to get to this point. But for one player in particular, stepping out onto the ice at Elland Road for the first time in front of a home crowd will be a particularly special moment.

Ever since defenceman Bobby Streetly had to be helped off the ice following a ‘nothing hit’ early into a 3-0 defeat to Telford Tigers in late November, the 25-year-old has had one target on his mind – to make sure that, one way or the other, he could be back in contention for whenever the Chiefs made it ‘home’.

The past few weeks have seen Leeds-born Streetly working hard to build himself back up from his upper-body injury ready for this moment, but it is still touch and go whether he will be recovered sufficiently to play tonight.

Regardless, he will be dressed ready to play, will take part in the warm-up with a decision made as late as possible by player-coach Sam Zajac on how much of a part he can play.

“Even if I don’t quite make it in terms of playing a regular shift, or anything, it will be an unbelievable experience stepping out on that ice,” said Streetly, who came through the junior system at nearby Bradford. “Being from Leeds and knowing what the city is like for sport, from boxing with Josh Warrington to Leeds United and the Rhinos, I feel that everybody will be massively behind us in this city.

Streetly admits it has been difficult watching from the sidelines over the last two months, particularly when the Chiefs suffered some wretched form over the Christmas period.

“It was tough because you’re stood there dying to get on the ice, but you’re just not able to help and you can see how tired everyone was, especially when we played five games in eight days or whatever it was over Christmas and they’d had no training and were so short on bodies,” he added.

“But we looked to have found a bit of form in the last couple of weeks so, hopefully, we’re turning a corner and can continue that against Sheffield and build some momentum.”