‘He wasn’t a fast or flash player but dependable and consistent’ – YEP Jury select their Leeds Rhinos unsung heroes

IAN SHARP

It was great to watch some live rugby league over the weekend and it’ll be better still when Super League is back up and running.

This week is about those unsung heroes. In a team with more than a dusting of magical superstars you need players laying the platform and in recent years there has been a few at Leeds to give some recognition to.

First up has to be Carl Ablett. What a player, he started in the centres, but found his home in the second-row; tough, resilient, pig headed are just some of his great attributes, and a no-nonsense approach, as Lee Briers found out in the 2012 Grand Final.

I’d love to know what was said as he ran over him to score in the corner that night.

Next, Brett Delaney another centre, that found his home in the second-row, a clear fans’ favourite, but never seemed to get the credit he deserved in the press.

He never took a backwards step throughout his career and he’s one of the people I’d have with me in the trenches every time.

CHRISTINE KIDD

There have been quite a few players who were appreciated more by their team-mates than by the fans.

One of these players was Carl Ablett who played for Leeds Rhinos from 2004 to 2019. He played numerous positions throughout his career including centre and second-row.

He put in a lot of hard graft so that players like Danny McGuire, Robbie Burrow and Ryan Hall, to name but a few, could set up and score the tries to win games.

Carl himself scored tries in Grand Final wins and other important games. It was unfortunate that he was unable to finish his career on his own terms and in the end had to retire due to injury.

Ablett won seven Grand Finals in which he started three times at centre, twice at second-row and twice on the interchange bench.

He also scored in two of the Grand Finals. He was a good player to have on the interchange bench because of his versatility.

He was very unassuming and more than happy to let others take the spotlight.

GRAHAM POULTER

This week’s topic is our choices of a few of the most underrated players to have played for Leeds Rhinos over the years.

First one for me is the man who played prop, Ian Kirke. When he first came into the team a lot of fans were unsure about him, a few said that they wouldn’t trust him to be the water carrier.

He definitely improved as he got more game time and matured as a player the older he became.

He proved it by helping his team-mates to qualify for and then go on and win Grand Finals.

He, like everybody played his part, so he has my respect. He’s a good bloke as well.

My next choice is the guy who played centre, Clinton Toopi. Again when he first came into the team there were plenty of moans and groans from several Leeds fans in the crowd.

However, he worked hard on his game throughout his time with Leeds and went on to become a good player who went on to achieve success in Grand Finals with us, so again he turned out to be a success.

DIANNE HALL

This one took a bit of thinking about, as underrated usually means undervalued. However, my choices were definitely not.

My first choice Brett Delaney made his try scoring debut on a cold, snowy January night in North Wales. He must have wondered what had hit him playing in those conditions.

‘Frogger’ as he is known, quickly became a fans’ favourite doing the unglamorous work, tackling, taking the ball up when no-one else wanted to and causing a few “hand bag” moments in the process.

His toughness on the field earned him a South Stand song (unrepeatable here) but memorable nonetheless.

My other choice is Carl Ablett. Like Brett Delaney he wasn’t afraid of hard graft or a scrap. With a decent turn of pace in his early playing days he scored some crucial tries and never got the plaudits he deserved.

Part of the ‘Golden Generation’ and one of the last to hang his boots up.

My only regret is that he never received a proper send off from the fans due to an injury-ravaged final season.

ADAM ANDERSON

At Leeds Rhinos we have had a number of players that have gone under the radar while other ‘big stars’ take the plaudits – players like Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Carl Ablett and more recently Cameron Smith come to mind.

These are players that do a lot of the hard work in their club but usually don’t get the recognition for it, it’s usually because they are consistently good.

Cameron Smith has been operating under the radar for a number of years with his loan deal at Bradford Bulls and then on dual registration at Featherstone Rovers, but currently he’s becoming a star at loose forward for us.

In the games this season he’s been one of the star performers.

Everyone thought that losing Trent Merrin would be a big blow to us, but this young lad is showing that we didn’t need to go out and sign a huge name as we hopefully have a ready made replacement there.

Smith has a lot of years ahead of him and hopefully when we return, his form is still up there with the rest of the team and he will go on to great things.

MATT FOWLER

There have been some world class stars play for Leeds during my time and many of them have been helped along the way by players whose work goes unrecognised.

Players who plug the gaps, who do the hard yards, who play consistently well in various positions. Every great team needs them and Leeds have had a few underrated players.

The most underrated player in the golden generation for me was Carl Ablett, a seven times Grand Final winner and he never experienced defeat at Old Trafford.

A centre in his early career, Carl scored 80 tries including crucial ones in virtually the same place in two Grand Finals.

He had a very brief spell on loan at London in 2005 before establishing himself, firstly as a centre, and then in the second-row.

He was consistently good every game he played and until the last season played most games. He was the only player in the treble winning season to play in every game. He wasn’t fast or flash but dependable and consistent.

Every successful team needs players like Carl and he was one of the best and most successful ever to wear a Leeds shirt.

***

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. These are challenging times but the team at the Yorkshire Evening Post need your support more than ever in the weeks ahead.

While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you. In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you - wherever possible and providing it is safe for you to do so - to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Inevitably falling advertising revenues will start to have an impact on local newspapers and the way we continue to work during this period of uncertainty. So the support of our readers has never been more important as we try to make sure that we keep you connected with the city you live in during this time. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. We need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Our team of trusted reporters are working incredibly hard behind the scenes- from kitchen tables and spare bedrooms - to look at how we can do this and your continued support to the YEP will help to protect its viability in the days and weeks ahead.

For more details on our subscription offers please visit www.localsubsplus.co.uk/YEP, email [email protected] or call us on 0330 4033004

Thank you, Laura Collins, Editor