It's time to select your 2020 Leeds Rhinos Shooting Star

Today, the Yorkshire Evening Post is giving readers an opportunity to make that decision and select which player receives one of Rhinos’ most prestigious annual honours.

Since it was introduced in 1998, the Yorkshire Evening Post Shooting Star award has recognised the youngster who has made the biggest impact for Rhinos over the past season.

The winner is traditionally revealed at Rhinos’ end of season awards ceremony, which will be an online event this year, to be broadcast next week.

Four players are in contention to be named YEP Shooting Star and votes from YEP readers will determine which of them takes home the coveted prize.

To be nominated, players must be aged 24 or under at the start of the season and not have made a full international appearance for one of the recognised Test-playing nations.

Previous winners of the award, claimed in 2019 by Harry Newman, have not been nominated.

With Rhinos facing a huge fixture pile-up, due to their Coral Challenge Cup final success and a hangover from Betfred Super League’s long coronavirus shutdown, coach Richard Agar turned to youth over the final three months of the campaign, when six teenagers were among the players given a chance to impress at the top level.

Fifteen players were eligible for this year’s honour and after a series of impressive individual performances, narrowing those down to a shortlist of four was a difficult task.

The first nominee this year is prop-forward Tom Holroyd, who made his debut in 2018.

The 19-year-old, from Halifax, played nine times for Rhinos - six of those as a substitute - in 2020 before his season was ended by a wrist injury which required surgery.

He featured in the Challenge Cup semi-final win against Wigan Warriors, having made his first senior start against the same opposition in Betfred Super League.

Signed from the Siddal amateur club, Holroyd played for England Academy in their Test series win over Australian Schoolboys two years ago and is regarded at Emerald Headingley as a potential full international of the future.

Nominated for the third successive year is another prop, Mikolaj Oledzki.

The first Polish-born player to appear for Leeds, Oledzki, 21, made 20 appearances this season - more than any other Rhinos player.

The England Academy and Knights international, who made his debut in 2017 after joining Leeds from Hunslet Warriors, was a regular in the starting lineup, scoring three tries and played in Rhinos’ Wembley win over Salford Red Devils, a feat which earned him congratulations from the Polish Embassy.

Also in contention to win the award after being among the nominees last year is former Castleford Panthers loose-forward Cameron Smith.

Like Oledzki, the 21-year-old has played for England at Academy and Knights level and made 15 appearances this season, scoring four tries.

Smith, who can also play at stand-off and hooker, has been a member of Leeds’ first team squad since 2016 and signed a new three-year contract in March.

Our fourth nominee is 21-year-old centre or loose-forward Alex Sutcliffe.

A product of the Oulton Raiders community club, Sutcliffe scored his first try for Leeds in last month’s play-offs defeat by Catalans Dragons.

That was his ninth game this season and the 11th of his Leeds career.

A Championship Grand Finalist on dual-registration with Featherstone Rovers last year, Sutcliffe was a substitute in Rhinos’ Challenge Cup winning side two months ago.

To vote, please email the name of your chosen player – from our list of four nominees – to [email protected] (entering Shooting Star as the email subject).

The player receiving the most votes will win the award.

Please hurry, the closing date for votes is noon tomorrow, Wednesday, December 16.

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