Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith reveals rookie set for 'plenty of Super League' action in 2024

Rhinos completed their pre-season fixtures with a 26-18 victory over Hull KR in James Donaldson’s testimonial game at AMT Headingley on Sunday. All Rhinos’ available first team players got game time, along with five youngsters from outside the official Super League squad.

Twenty one-year-old prop Tom Nicholson-Watton, who made his senior derby in the final match of last year, caught the eye with a strong performance, including a powerful break which created a try for former Man of Steel Brodie Croft in his first game for Leeds. He was called into the first team squad, wht the number 30 jersey, at the start of pre-season and played in the senior team’s three warm-up matches.

With front-rowers Tom Holroyd, Sam Lisone and Mickael Goudemand all missing the Hull KR game through injury, he is pushing hard for a place in the 17 to face Salford Red Devils in Super League round one on Friday, February 16. “This time last year he wasn’t a big chance of playing much Super League, but he has put his head down, he improved a lot last year and he continues to improve,” Smith said of Nicholson-Watton. “He is now likely to play plenty of Super League, I would say. There’s a lesson in that for every player.”

Leon Ruan, 20, who made five Super League appearances last season before being injured, was among Rhinos’ scorers against Hull KR and is also an option if more experienced props are on the casualty list. “Leon had an elbow injury in round 26 last year and that was the first time he had missed a session since he has been here,” Smith said. “He has done a great rehab, last week he was okay and [on Sunday] he did well. He is ahead of schedule on that rehab.”

Asked if Nicholson-Watton and Ruan are close to becoming Super League players “week-in, week-out”, the coach stressed: “They might need to be if we’ve got a couple missing. You can’t have six or eight experienced players in the middle unit and then back them up with more experienced players.

“That’s where the kids get their opportunity. They might need to be ready and that’s really the only way you know if they are ready to play week-in, week-out, by giving them the chance to do that. There’s a lot of players who can play Super League for a week or two here or there, but getting that rhythm is the only way you know. We will be calculated as much as we can be, but Leon and Tom have both shown with each opportunity they get they actually step into it and step forward.”

Smith insisted: “Other kids have done that really well in the pre-season as well. Jack Smith, every time he’s asked to play at a higher level he has played better and met that standard. It is nice to have kids who are striving to do good things.”

One front-rower who won’t be in immediate top-flight contention is new signing Kieran Hudson. The 23-year-old joined Leeds from Castleford Tigers in the off-season and made his comeback from a year-long Achilles injury when a reserve/academy side lost 18-16 at Hunslet last Friday.

Smith said: “It has been a long, hard road for him back to full health and he has only been in a full-time environment for a very short period of time at Cas. He got an injury and he has been in rehab’ with us pretty much; in and out of team training, but not in full flight yet.

“He is a very committed kid, he works hard and he has got a lot of improvement in him, given his background and not being full-time for long. He carried the ball hard against some tough men the other day at Hunslet. I thought he was good at collision, but we’ll build him up. He won’t be playing any time soon.”