Challenge Cup final win over Salford Red Devils was 'dream come true' for Leeds Rhinos youngster Alex Sutcliffe

When Wakefield-born Sutcliffe came off the bench in the second half of Saturday’s dramatic 17-16 win over Salford Red Devils, it was only his eighth first team appearance for Leeds.

Sutcliffe, 21, impressed for a young side against Catalans Dragons at the end of last month, but wasn’t selected for the Challenge Cup semi-final win over Wigan Warriors, when they played Hull the following Thursday or the game at Warrington Wolves - in which Leeds fielded another inexperienced lineup - a week ago.

Sutcliffe revealed: “I didn’t have a clue I was going to be playing. When he [Agar] left me out of the semi-final squad I thought I wasn’t going to be playing.

“He told me the day after the Hull game and I didn’t expect it at all. We were playing Warrington on the Tuesday and I thought he had got his dates mixed up when he said ‘you’re going to play on Saturday’.

“I said, ‘don’t you mean Tuesday’? and he said ‘no, you’re playing on Saturday’. I didn’t stop smiling all week and I don’t think I will for a long time now.”

Sutcliffe scored 16 tries in 18 games on dual-registration for Featherstone Rovers last year and played in their Betfred Championship Grand final loss to Toronto Wolfpack.

The centre/second-row’s first senior game for Leeds was in 2017 when an under-strength side was whitewashed at Wigan Warriors the weekend before a Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull.

He didn’t feature at all during an injury-hit 2018 season and made one substitute appearance last year, in Leeds’ crucial Magic Weekend relegation four-pointer against London Broncos at Anfield.

“I have dreamed of this [playing in a Challenge Cup final] for years, since I was a small boy,” the former Oulton Raiders junior added.

“It is a dream come true, I can’t say how much it means to me - it means everything, absolutely everything.

“It feels so good, to win a medal on a big stage like that is absolutely unbelievable.”

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Laura Collins