Leeds Rhinos ace James McDonnell reveals squad number aim ahead of Castleford Tigers Super League derby

McDonnell is in his second campaign with Rhinos - having joined them from hometown club Wigan Warriors - and moved up the squad numbers from 19 to 16 in pre-season. Only injuries have kept him out of the side since he made his debut in Betfred Super League round three last year, but second-row is arguably Rhinos’ strongest position and McDonnell is competing with Rhyse Martin, James Bentley, Mickael Goudemand and the currently injured Morgan Gannon for a place in the team.

The 24-year-old scored four tries in 24 appearances last year and has played in Leeds’ last four games after missing the first two because of a pre-season injury. Rhinos make the short trip to Castleford Tigers on Thursday aiming to bounce back from successive league and Challenge Cup defeats by St Helens, with McDonnell having played 80 minutes in both.

“I am getting my game fitness back and it has put me in good stead to be kicking on now and really bringing my game to another level,” he said of his start to the campaign. “Competition is really strong and training’s difficult that way.

“You wouldn’t have it any other way, you don’t want to get complacent. I still haven’t got that starting back-row number, which is my aim and what I want to be week-in and week-out, starting in that back-row.”

Coach Rohan Smith is keen for players to have more than one string to their bow. McDonnell added: “I’ll be versatile if I need to; I’ll play wherever I’m put, as long as I can be on that field and contributing. I want to be in the bracket where Rohan can’t really leave me out of the team; he needs to find a way to get me in the team somehow - whether it’s starting in the back-row, coming off the bench in the middle or moving to back-row. I just want that opportunity wherever I can get it.”

From a team perspective, McDonnell admitted the Easter derby is a “big game” against opponents who have lost all their five league matches so far. “It always is, travelling to the Jungle,” he said. “We want to bounce back - we just want to be back on the field, to be honest. We want to put some wrongs right and we have got an opportunity to do that.”

Tigers’ first win of last season came in round five at home to Rhinos 12 months ago. Leeds also lost to Castleford at Magic Weekend in Newcastle and McDonnell reckons form means nothing in derby games. “We’ll pay no attention [to Tigers’ recent results,” he vowed. “We’re just focusing on us. We’ll do what we need to do to get them reviewed and look at their games, but we are mainly going out to put things right at our end.”

Last Friday’s 20-6 loss - the fourth successive year Rhinos have fallen at the first hurdle in the Challenge Cup - was a painful blow, but, despite admitting they didn’t play well, McDonnell believes there were “some positives”. He said: “How we stuck together and we were fighting to the end; we didn’t spit the dummy out or argue between ourselves, we stayed together and connected as a unit and that’s something that will put us in good stead for the rest of the year.

“There’s no concern as far as that goes. There’s spirit in the group and belief and skill to get the points; we just need to execute better and be as one when it comes to the shape of the attack and all that kind of stuff. I think it was mainly our defence that let us down. We gave them too many easy metres and couldn’t get on the front foot to attack and show that attacking prowess we’ve got.

“The performance wasn’t there [last week], it was a poor performance as far as the team are concerned. We didn’t play to our best, there’s a couple of levels we can take it up to, definitely, but to play like that and still be competitive, there’s some positives there.”

So far this year, an 80-minute performance has eluded Rhinos, who haven’t scored in three of their last six halves of rugby. They fought back from 16-0 down at the break to win 22-16 at Leigh Leopards three weeks ago and led in the first half of both games against Saints.

McDonnell admitted they have to play better for longer this week. He said: “[In the league clash with St Helens] we came flying out of the blocks and couldn’t put a full-80 together. Last week was similar.

“We didn’t start too well, but we were kind of steady-away for the full-80. That’s not in our DNA, it’s not what we want to be. We want to be as soon as we step on the field we are on and we can see a game out and we can consistently put in 80-minute performances.”