Leeds Rhinos' drop goal king Luke Gale won't give up his crown

Those statistics highlight the difference a drop goal expert can make in close games and Rhinos’s squad now includes one of the best in captain Luke Gale.

The scrum-half was responsible for all of Leeds’ winning one-pointers last year, against Huddersfield Giants twice - including an extra-time clincher to cap a stunning fightback in their first game following lockdown - and most famously the decisive score in the Coral Challenge Cup final defeat of Salford Red Devils.

On each occasion, the opposition knew what was coming and weren’t able to prevent it - but Gale has revealed that was not always Rhinos’ plan.

He admitted: “When you are playing against Leeds, you know the drop goal is always going to go to me.

“I remember a few times the message came on ‘Liam Sutcliffe is your get-out’, but he didn’t get the ball.

“We messed about in training a few times, but I haven’t used him once, I reckon I could miss three and still be confident in nailing the fourth.”

At Wembley, Gale was narrowly off-target with one attempt before landing the kick which brought the trophy back to Leeds.

“I remember in the Cup final the message coming on saying ‘Sutty’s your get-out, they are coming for you’,” he recalled.

“Alex Morrell, the physio, used to run on with the message, but after about the fourth time, he stopped telling me.

“I just have the confidence; even if I miss a couple, I still have the confidence to get the third.”

Sutcliffe has booted one drop goal during his Rhinos career, along with 258 two-pointers.

Brad Dwyer - with one - and Richie Myler, who has kicked two, are the only other players in Leeds’ current squad to have landed a drop goal for the club.

“It’s quite, funny - it’s a bit of an on-going joke,” Gale added of Rhinos’ back-up plan.

“I think I gave him [Sutcliffe] it once in training and he missed it, but it is on me - I am happy to cop that if I do miss and we lose.

“Thankfully, we didn’t lose one by a drop goal [last year], we won three by one point so they all went my way.”

Already the team’s leading play-maker, Gale - who additionally kicked a drop in a big Betfred Super League win over Hull KR - has no problem coping with the added pressure.

He is also back-up to first-choice goal kicker Rhyse Martin and was appointed captain in February when Stevie Ward suffered a long-term head injury.

Gale began his career in Rhinos’ youth system and landed a late drop goal for Leeds’ under-21s to seal a 1-0 win over Hull in the 2006 Senior Academy Grand Final.

Famously, Gale kicked the golden-point drop goal which took his previous club Castleford Tigers to Old Trafford in 2017, moments after levelling the scores with a last-gasp penalty.

“I like it to lay with me,” he said. “If we get beat, I can handle that.

“I don’t think it’s anything to do with being captain, I just think it’s me as a person. If we get beaten by one point, I can cop it that night - it is down to me being a half-back, me controlling the team.

“I love those moments, I live for those moments - but we might work on it this year. We might have a good get-out play, but until then I will keep cracking them over.”

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