Leeds Rhinos' Presley Cassell on sub role, 'huge' win v Wakefield Trinity and giving 'that little bit extra'

Last Friday’s win at Wakefield Trinity was his sixth successive appearance and speaking afterwards, coach Brad Arthur enthused: “Presley is getting better and better and looks more and more like a Super League player every day of the week.” That’s high praise for a 19-year-old playing in the middle of the field and reflects Cassell’s personal aims.

“It’s my goal week-in, week-out to put my best foot forward,” Cassell vowed. “With only being young I want to keep developing and it makes it easier with the team I’ve got around me.

“Some of the older middles are really good and I am learning from them. Rolling off the bench with Tom [Holroyd] and Cam [Smith], I think we are forming a great partnership and injecting a lot into the game. I’m just taking it one week at a time and building on each week.”

Cassell has yet to start for Leeds in Super League this year, all nine appearances coming as a substitute. He did, however, feature in the initial 13 when Rhinos won at Widnes Vikings in the Challenge Cup at the start of the season.

The former Siddal junior, who made his first team debut last summer, now has 17 senior games under his belt. After playing in the round one defeat at this Thursday’s visitors Leigh Leopards in February, he had to wait three months for another opportunity, but game time has increased as his run in the side has gone on.

“Brad is pretty open and honest about my role,” he stated. “It is probably just coming off the bench at the minute, getting that valuable experience and more minutes under my belt. With me being only young, each minute and any minute I can get is only going to put me in good stead.”

On a team note, the result at Wakefield guaranteed Leeds’ qualification for the play-offs and Cassell admitted: “As a team and a club we probably owed those guys one from the Challenge Cup and last year when we lost to a drop kick. It’s a huge win, but we are just taking it a week at a time. There’s still five games left so it’s important we celebrate this win, but look no further than Thursday against Leigh, which will be a tough game.”

Leigh are sixth in the table and beat Rhinos on their own turf in round one, six months to the day before this week’s rematch. A Leeds victory would move them closer to a top-two finish, securing a week off at the start of the play-offs and home advantage in the sudden-death semi-final.

Cassell insisted Rhinos are under no illusions about how important the fixture is, but aren’t looking past that. “Leigh have been up there for the last couple of seasons, around the play-offs,” he noted. “But we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have got an end goal we want to stick to and I think every player in the club is willing to give that little bit extra to make sure we get there at the end of the year.”