Leeds Rhinos' James Donaldson on proving himself again, a new-look pack, Super League aims and Leigh trial

The 31-year-old Cumbrian has overcome more obstacles than most during his career, having suffered three anterior cruciate ligament (acl) injuries and been left without a club following his departure from Hull KR four years ago.

Even last year, a knee problem threatened to bring his season to an early halt before he battled back to take a place in Rhinos’ Grand Final side.

Now Donaldson, who has played his recent rugby in the middle of the field, is facing a fight for his place in a Rhinos forward division which has been strengthened by a series of signings, plus the continued emergence of young players from the club’s youth system.

As far as Donaldson is concerned, that is par for the course - and he reckons added competition will make him play better.

“There’s some great players we’ve signed, Sam Lisone, Justin Sangare - they are big players as well, probably the opposite to what I am,” Donaldson observed.

“Then there’s the young boys, Sam Walters and Tom Holroyd, who are training the house down and look in great condition.

“I am really relishing that competition with them. I have had to prove myself that many times in my career, I know it brings the best out in me.

“I am looking forward to that and hopefully when we get to the season I will just play my game and let the rest take care of itself.”

Donaldson, who joined Rhinos as a trialist ahead of the 2019 campaign, hailed pre-season so far, under coach Rohan Smith, as “brilliant”.

He said: “It’s Rohan’s first pre-season in charge so it has been a bit different, a lot of wrestle, a lot of hand-eye stuff, obviously a lot of hard work.

“There’s been a few different things that we haven’t done in the past, but it has been really positive and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Comparing the past few months to previous pre-seasons at Rhinos. Donaldson said: “Every one is different, different coaches have different ideas and so do conditioners, but I’ve really enjoyed this one and enjoyed trying to improve on the little bits in my game and things that’ll make a difference when it comes to the start of the season.”

Rhinos begin their Betfred Super League campaign away to Warrington Wolves in four weeks’ time and Donaldson reckons they are in good shape.

“We’re getting the majority of the players on the field now and I think there’s a few to come back in the next few weeks,” he said.

“I think we’re at great strength. We’ve got players who are adaptable, who can play a number of positions if we need them to and it’s all positive.”

Leeds’ second warm-up game is on Saturday when they visit promoted Leigh Leopards, who could include Zak Hardaker and Tom Briscoe from Rhinos’ 2022 Grand Final side.

“It’ll be a great test,” Donaldson predicted. “They are going to be excited for their first game against a Super League team.

“They’ll want to put their best performance on in front of their home fans and we’ve just got to make sure we handle that in the right way and we play our best footy as well.”

Donaldson played when Rhinos began their pre-season campaign with a 38-20 home loss to Wakefield Trinity on Boxing Day, but believes this weekend will be a more accurate indication of where they are.

“Boxing Day is a tough game to play in, with Christmas Day the day before, kicking off a lot earlier and so on,” he noted.

“This will be a lot different, I think as a team we’ll be a lot more ready. We are all excited, we are ready to play rugby now.

“We’ve spent the last eight weeks training the house down to build ourselves nicely for the start of the season and this friendly is the next step now.”