'Good to be recognised': Leeds Rhinos' Morgan Gannon talks England call-up, injury blow and reserves return

The 19-year-old second-rower played in Rhinos’ first two competitive games this season, but has not featured in Betfred Super League being concussed during February’s home loss to Hull FC.

That was his second concussion in three competitive matches after he failed a head injury assessment during Rhinos’ play-off win at Catalans Dragons last September.

Because of his age and the previous short gap between incidents, Gannon was given extended time off the field, but made his comeback with Rhinos’ reserves when they beat Hull at Headingley last Friday, the day after he was named in England’s extended squad for the Test against France on April 29.

Gannon played for the second-string England Knights two years ago, but admitted his call up to England coach Shaun Wane’s 40-man squad was “a bit of a shock”.

He said: “I missed his call to start with and when I saw it was Shaun Wane I thought it was someone having a laugh.

“I have barely played this year so it was a real surprise, I wasn’t expecting it, but I am really excited to be in the squad and really proud of it.”

A 20-man group to face France will be confirmed next week, but Gannon’s inclusion on the long-list suggests Wane has him in mind for the next World Cup, in just two years’ time.

He revealed: “I’ve sort of had the 2025 World Cup in my mind. I’ve pin-pointed that as an opportunity I have got to take advantage of.

“I wasn’t expecting it to come this early but, it is good to be recognised and to know they are thinking of you.”

Halifax-born Gannon has made rapid progress, having debuted for Rhinos in a BBC-televised Challenge Cup tie at St Helens just two years and three days before his England call up was announced.

He already has 40 first team games under his belt and the two recent concussions have been his first major setback.

Explaining his long spell on the sidelines, Gannon insisted he has made the most of his time out of the team.

“I saw a neurologist and had an MRI scan,” he said. “He advised me, because of the closeness to the previous one, to have some time off.

“I had four weeks without any contact, which I used to focus on the gym. My upper body was pretty fresh, with no contact and wrestle, so I managed to put some size on in that time and got stronger.”

Over the last four weeks Gannon has been building back to contact work, concentrating on his tackling technique as well as doing some boxing training - for head movement - and jujitsu, to help with body control and awareness.

“It was good to keep it different, focusing on the all-round athlete sort of thing,” he said. “You can cross over, rugby league is quite an all-round sport so it has been good to have different stimuluses.”

Gannon came through his comeback unscathed and stressed: “It was nice to be back out there. It has been a while and it was good to use the opportunity to get back, focus on my own game and enjoy it.”

He came off the bench for the final half an hour of Rhinos reserves’ 38-18 win, in place of scrum-half Jack Sinfield and added: “I focussed on being a half in that game because it’s a few less tackles, but I could still get involved when I needed to.

“Towards the end we were down to 12 men so I used it as a chance to get some contact and carry the ball into tackles.

“Jack, Sam [Walters] and Luis [Roberts] came off, just as precautions and it was good, some young lads in the middle played a lot of minutes and they all went well. They had a real enthusiasm to defend, which was good.”

The next step is a first team recall, but with James McDonnell - who has started all seven games since Gannon’s injury and scored in the last three - showing impressive form, he knows he can’t expect to walk straight back in.

“I’m not too sure what the plan is or how long it’ll be before I’m back in the first team, but that’s the goal,” Gannon stated. “I want to get there as soon as possible.”