Leeds Rhinos' jack of all trades masters No 1

It is a steep learning curve, but Leeds Rhinos’ Richie Myler says he is relishing his new position as a Betfred Super League full-back.
Richie Myler scores against Salford. Picture by Mike Egerton PA Wire.Richie Myler scores against Salford. Picture by Mike Egerton PA Wire.
Richie Myler scores against Salford. Picture by Mike Egerton PA Wire.

“I have never done it before - it is a different view,” Myler said of the role which he is keeping warm for the injured Jack Walker.

“There’s a lot more running, I have a new-found respect for the amount of running they do, but I am learning and I am enjoying it.

“It is new to me so I have got a fair bit of work to do.”

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Myler’s impressive form has earned him a new contract, which was announced last week.

He had been expected to join Toronto Wolfpack, but financial problems caused them to withdraw from Super League for the rest of this year and the uncertainty led to talks being reopened with Leeds. He is now committed to Rhinos until the end of 2022.

Myler was thrown in at full-back, for the first time in his career, during February’s win over one of his former clubs, Warrington Wolves.

Walker suffered a fractured foot in the first half of that game and Myler replaced him, having initially been on the bench as a back-up hooker.

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He started there for the first time the following week, against Toronto and remained in the role when Rhinos resumed their campaign with an extra-time victory over Huddersfield Giants last month.

Walker has recovered from his injury, is building up his fitness in training and could come into contention for Friday’s rematch with Giants at St Helens, which would leave coach Richard Agar with a selection headache.

Myler stressed: “It will be good to get Jack back and I am not too fussed where I play - I am happy to play wherever the team needs me, really.”

Having missed last month’s defeats by St Helens and Wigan Warriors because of a hamstring injury, Myler returned with a bang when he grabbed a hat-trick in the 50-12 hammering of Salford Red Devils 10 days ago.

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He took a blow to chest on the final play of the game, preventing a Salford try, but was expected to play against against Wakefield last Thursday before the game was postponed due to two Trinity players testing positive for Covid-19.

“I am all good,” he reported. “I don’t like missing games, I don’t like it when I am injured and not playing so it was good to get out there [against Salford].

“I thought the whole group did a good job.

“Our middle was outstanding and across the board we bought into what we talked about all week and put a good performance in.”

It was a huge step up from the listless effort against Saints and below-par performance in the defeat by Wigan.

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Explaining Leeds’ improvement, Myler said: “We wanted to build a platform and you could see it from the first 10 sets, we completed very high.

“I don’t think we made an error. I thought we built the game well, that helped massively and got us on the right foot.”

Myler reckons Rhinos are also beginning to get to grips with the competition’s new rules.

“It is a lot faster; the ball is in play a lot longer,” he said of the sport since the resumption after coronavirus.

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“If you make a lot of errors and gift-up field position it is hard to get the momentum back.

“We built a lot on that during last week and obviously got the benefit of that.”

Leeds had been due to visit Catalans Dragons yesterday, but that was also postponed which means they have two extra games to fit into an already packed schedule.

Myler warned: “The games are going to come thick and fast now so it’s about doing the best recovery and getting yourselves in the best shape to go again.

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“We want to build on what we delivered [against Salford} and improve even more.”

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Laura Collins