Jamie Jones-Buchanan: Here’s to signing off my Leeds Rhinos career on a high note

I’M ALWAYS excited about a new season and especially this year because it will be my last.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan.Jamie Jones-Buchanan.
Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

I want to finish strong and whatever happens, I am going to enjoy it.

Every time I go to an away ground now it will potentially be the final time I play there and reasons like that make it pretty special for me, personally.

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For the Leeds Rhinos team generally, it is the start of a new era and new chapter, the Dave Furner regime.

Leeds Rhinos head coach Dave Furner. Picture Tony Johnson.Leeds Rhinos head coach Dave Furner. Picture Tony Johnson.
Leeds Rhinos head coach Dave Furner. Picture Tony Johnson.

I was lucky enough to play with him in 2003-4 and as a coach he has been brilliant in the off-season.

We have got through a lot of work and we’ve had loads of bodies on the training pitch, both new and experienced.

The proof is in the pudding and when the work you’ve done in pre-season comes to fruition out on the field it is always nice to see. Hopefully we’ll get that tomorrow and for the rest of the year.

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I am not going to be getting emotional about it being my last year. I’ll just get on with it and I have no doubts or misconceptions about what I am doing.

Chev Walker.Chev Walker.
Chev Walker.

I am really happy with the way things are and I am looking forward to everything that’s in front of me. I am not going to get too het up about the fact I am finishing, life is just a journey.

I’ve got a few ideas about what I’m going to do when I hang my boots up. I will be doing a bit more media work, I but I very much hope to stay involved with the club.

Kevin Sinfield talks a lot about DNA and the DNA at the Rhinos, that has made the club so successful over the years, is down to the people involved here. A lot of the team who contributed to the success on the field are now part of what is happening off it and that is great to see. Chev Walker is a good example. He was a big part of what we achieved at the start of this successful period, he had a long time away and now he is back on the coaching staff and doing a great job.

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He knows what it means to play for Leeds, he understands the culture and I have been really impressed with him this off-season. In my opinion, he is a potential head coach one day. He seems to develop and get better every week. Rob Burrow is involved with the youth and that’s really important. It is key to our future success that we get young lads coming through who are earthed in Leeds and the club.

We’ve also got Kev on the rugby side of things and JP doing marketing now and I hope after I’m finished playing I can follow in their footsteps, but there is a lot of water to go under the bridge first. Tomorrow’s game should be a big one to start the year. Warrington will still be smarting from the Grand Final loss last year, which wasn’t that long ago and they’ll want to come out and show they can go one step further this year.

They’ve had a bit of adversity with losing Kevin Brown to injury, but Blake Austin’s a great signing for them and he’ll go well alongside Dec Patton in the halves, Stefan Ratchford is always a threat when he moves up from full-back and Jake Mamo will give them a new dimension. They’ve got a big, robust pack and some really talented kids. I got to know a few of them with England Knights in Papua New Guinea last year and they are really impressive players and people.

Leeds getting to host eight games in the 2021 World Cup is class news. We have fantastic facilities at Headingley and the club has spent a lot of money to make sure the stadium can stage the top games.

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I hope to be part of making sure there is a lasting legacy from the World Cup. It will be a showcase for the sport and we want to get into the community, get schools and clubs involved and bring everybody together.

I want to be a big part of that over the next two years.