'I couldn't believe it': Highly-rated Leeds Rhinos youngster Jonah Parsons makes emotional return after two-year injury nightmare

Named scholarship player of the year in his first season at Leeds, the hooker/half-back seemed on the verge of big things, but the Covid shutdown turned a routine knee injury into a year-long layoff and when he returned, he suffered even worse damage to his other leg.

That limited Parson’s academy career to a tiny portion of one game, but he was finally back on the field last weekend, in a reserves match against Newcastle Thunder and marked his return with an emotional try.

Now Parsons is hoping to make up for lost time and impress Rhinos’ coaching staff enough to earn a first team contract.

“It has been such a long time, it didn’t feel real coming back to play again,” Parsons said.

“Just to get back on the pitch was great.”

Parsons’ try was greeted with delight by his teammates.

Described by academy/reserves’ boss Chev Walker as a “super-talented kid”, Parsons admitted he was in shock when he touched down.

“I couldn’t believe it myself, that I’d gone over,” he said.

“I was just lost for words.

“I am just happy to be back on the pitch and to score a try was even better.”

Parsons joined Rhinos’ scholarship from the West Bowling community club in Bradford and made a big impression for the under-16s, scoring five tries in seven appearances.

That secured an academy contract, but then things went dramatically wrong.

He recalled: “I did well in the scholarship, I got player of the year, then in my first game in academy I did my left knee.

“It was a hyper-extension kind of thing; it wasn’t a long-term injury, but because of lockdown it stopped me from playing.

“It took me nearly a year for that one.

“When I came back, I had put on weight, good weight, but because my body wasn’t used to it, I was trying to do the stuff I did when I was lighter and my acl [anterior cruciate ligament] went.

“It snapped in the first session back after lockdown.”

Acl damage is one of the injuries all players fear the most, inevitably leading to surgery and round a year on the sidelines.

That and Covid combined to wipe out Parsons’ academy career.

“I literally played 10 minutes in academy and that was it,” he recalled.

“The reserves is good for me, I was hoping it would come back because I didn’t really know what would happen if it didn’t.”

That acl injury was to his right knee, but he came through last week’s return with no problems from either joint.

He said. “I was [concerned] about stepping, I thought ‘if it goes again I don’t know what I am going to do’, but it was all good.”

Now too old for the academy, Parson’s aim is to play as much rugby as possible in the reserves, secure a contract at that level and then push for a place in the full-time squad.

“That’s my ambition,” he said.

“The club have been really good with me there was loads of support.”