'Ahead of schedule': Leeds Rhinos signing Nene Macdonald reveals Super League goal

Macdonald is on the casualty list after suffering a quad muscle injury playing for Papua New Guinea against England in a World Cup quarter-final two months ago.

At Christmas coach Rohan Smith rated him “touch and go” to face Warrington Wolves in Rhinos’ season opener on February 16, but the player has revealed he is ahead of schedule.

That’s good news for Rhinos, after their other first-choice centre Harry Newman confirmed he expects to return from hamstring surgery within the first three weeks of the campaign.

“It is going good, I think I am ahead of schedule at the moment with my re-hab’,” Macdonald told The Yorkshire Evening Post.

“I did some running the week before last and a bit more this week. Hopefully in the near future I’ll join the boys in full training and the goal is round one, but we’ll see what happens with the next few weeks.”

Macdonald won’t feature in Saturday’s pre-season game at his former club Leigh and will have to convince Rhinos’ medical staff he is fully fit before he gets the green light.

He admitted: “The physios want me to take my time and get it right, but being a footballer you just want to get on the field with the boys.

“It is a hard one, but they are doing such a good job in taking care of me. I just get too excited seeing everyone else training.”

Though coming into a new club injured wasn’t ideal, Macdonald is pleased with the way he has been accepted by his new teammates.

He added: “It’s very hard watching them train and you are alone a lot of the time so you don’t get to bond with the team as much.

“But we had a bit of time together last week and since I’ve been here the boys have been very welcoming and made the transition very easy for me.”

Of Rhinos’ squad, he noted: “I think it’s really good across the board, there’s a lot of young boys looking sharp and the boys who were here already are looking good.

“It’s going to be a tough round one decision, I think, for Rohan. Everyone is giving it their all this pre-season and just the bond of everyone, it is a pretty tight-knit group and from my experience in the past in the NRL, when you’re in a team like that you usually do well, regardless of the names in your team.”

Macdonald, 28, played in the NRL for Sydney Roosters, Gold Coast Titans, St George-Illawarra, North Queensland Cowboys and Cronulla Sharks and was coached by Smith at Queensland Cup side Norths Devils before joining Leigh Centurions for the 2022 Betfred Championship season.

He scored 27 tries in as many appearances last year as Leigh secured a place in the top-flight, but admits Super League will be a new ball game.

He said: “It has been good so far, a big change from Leigh to Leeds. It is a much bigger club and more established, you can tell from day one.

“I am excited for the challenge. It was a good year last year, we won nearly every game, but sometimes the challenge wasn’t always there.

“It’s something I look forward to in a game, not knowing what’s going to happen and how tough it’s going to be.

“You’ve got to bring your A-game; last year we could slack off in some games because of how good our team was, but you can’t get away with that [in Super League] and that’s a challenge I love.”

Macdonald did his homework “through word of mouth” before penning a two-year contract.

“Obviously I know Reece Martin,” he said. “He spoke very highly of Leeds, said it’s a good club. Paul Aiton spoke highly of the club as well, he said I’d love it there.”

Rhinos second-rower Martin captained PNG’s World Cup squad and ex-Leeds player Aiton was an assistant-coach.

Smith was another factor in Macdonald moving to Headingley. Several clubs were interested, but Macdonald confirmed: “I decided to go with Leeds and he was a big part of the decision.

“He took me to the Queensland Cup when the Covid stuff was happening and gave me a shot there to play.

“We had a successful year, winning the comp and I felt not like I owed him one, but it would be good to come back and play under him again when he gave me that shot.”