Leeds Rhinos' player of the year Mikolaj Oledzki pledges to be better in 2022: Warrington Wolves clash start of big season for England forward

Oledzki made his England debut in 2021, established himself as one of Rhinos’ first-choice front-rowers and was named the club’s player of the year.

Having turned 23 last November, he is still young for a top-flight prop and - after signing on at Rhinos until the end of 2025 - Leeds fans can look forward to him continuing to develop over the next few seasons.

But Oledzki’s second half of last term was disrupted by injury and he insisted he didn’t get as many games or finish as well as he wanted, so the aim this time is to be better, for longer.

“I wanted to play 90-100 percent of the games,” he said.

“I was pretty ambitious and when I missed out on eight weeks of games I was pretty gutted.

“I really thought I was going in the right direction as a player, then I came back for a few games and the England game, but I didn’t feel like I played my best, what I was capable of.

“Those were the games you really want to be at your best in, the play-offs and internationals.

“This year, I am going through that process of building my performances week by week and improving, getting the small stuff right and getting to 100 per cent at the end of the year in the play-offs.

“That’s the aim, to be consistently good every week and make sure I am firing on all cylinders at the end of the year.”

Oledzki is a real contender to feature for England in this autumn’s delayed World Cup, but accepts if he doesn’t play well for Rhinos, that won’t happen.

“My priority is playing every week for Leeds and playing well consistently, every week,” he insisted.

“The rest will take care of itself, hopefully.

“I trust in that process, every year I have that approach of concentrating on myself, getting the small things right and everything else will fall into place.

“That’s the goal for this year.”

All that begins this afternoon when Rhinos kick off their Betfred Super League campaign at home to last year’s third-best team, Warrington Wolves.

It could potentially be an explosive start to the campaign and Oledzki predicted: “Hopefully it will be a good spectacle, a good game.”

The match is being broadcast live on Channel 4 and Warrington say they have sold more than 1,600 tickets.

Oledzki said: “It is nice to have the first game of the season at Headingley, in front of our amazing crowd.

“A good atmosphere is guaranteed and it will be an exciting game.

“The last time we played them at Headingley we lost by a point - George Williams dropped a goal.

“I feel like we need to get one back, at home - so it’s exciting and we all feel fresh and ready to go.

“Everyone is buzzing and full of energy.”

Rhinos will need to be as they face a tough opening month which also sees them travel to Wigan Warriors next Friday and play host to last year’s league leaders Catalans Dragons a week later.

“You’ve got to play them all at some point,” Oledzki said.

“We are all confident, we don’t mind the tough games at the start.

“If you are going to compete for the top spot you need to be playing in these games and dominating and winning them.

“Hopefully we can start on the front foot this week and build on that.

“Our eyes are on this game, that’s the main focus.

“We will think about the other games after we do the job on Saturday.”

After some tough years following the treble success in 2015, Oledzi reckons Rhinos are now back on the up.

“Over the last few years it has been a building process, trying new things and players coming and going,” he noted. “The last two years, we have kind of progressed one game more - two years ago we went out in the first round of the play-offs and last year we made the semis. We have made some great signings and I think they are the missing pieces we needed to get a team that can challenge for top spot. Hopefully we can do that, with the likes of Saints and Catalans and Warrington.”

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