Leeds Rhinos talking points as young guns impress, stars gain game time, but Odsal needs an upgrade

Leeds Rhinos play their final warm-up game this Sunday when coach Rohan Smith is expected to field his strongest-available side at home to Hull KR in James Donaldson’s testimonial, 12 days before their Betfred Super League campaign begins against Salford Red Devils. Rhinos sent out a largely second-string team for last weekend’s 34-8 defeat at Bradford Bulls and there were some encouraging signs, despite the result. Here’s five talking points.

1: Win, lose or draw, pre-season results mean nothing. A young Rhinos side were always going to be up against it facing strong Championship opposition who were a week away from their first competitive fixture, but Smith will have looked for some positives and he got them.

Mikolaj Oledzki, James Donaldson and Leon Ruan all came through unscathed on their return from injury and another long-term casualty, Justin Sangare, got more game time under his belt in his second match back.

Looking more long-term, important experience was gained by some teenage rookies, including three 17 year olds, who were playing against grown men for the first time. In such a physical sport, it’s no surprise they found it tough going, but the young players - and Rhinos’ coaching staff - now have an idea of how far they still have to go and who is closest to making the step up.

2: Time will tell, but there’s a feeling in Rhinos’ camp the current crop of young players is the club’s best since the golden generation emerged two decades ago. There is a lot of excitement about 17-year-old stand-off Fergus McCormack who had a taste of the action against Wakefield on Boxing Day and caught the eye when he came on in the second half at Odsal. He’s still at school and isn’t likely to be knocking on the first team door for a while, but Jack Sinfield - Leeds’ number seven last weekend - made his senior debut at a similar age and Rhinos have a vision of what their halves might look like in a few years’ time.

Jack Smith, a big three-quarter, backed up a try-scoring performance against Wakefield with another encouraging display against Bradford and centre Ned McCormack - Fergus’ older brother, a recent convert from rugby union - also has exciting potential. They are both 18, a year younger than second-row Ben Littlewood. Forwards may take a little longer to become established, but he has all the physical attributes and is also highly regarded.

3: What Rhinos don’t want to do is throw several youngsters in at the deep end in one go, as has happened in recent seasons. There’s a lot of talent and potential in Leeds’ squad but in terms of experience, not great depth, particularly in the backs.

Avoiding injuries to players in the top 20 - and especially full-back Lachie Miller and halves Brodie Croft and Matt Frawley - will be crucial. Where Leeds are strong is in the second-row and at hooker. That said, back-rowers James Bentley and James McDonnell weren’t fit enough to play last weekend, though neither injury is believed to be serious, so Smith won’t want any more setbacks in that department before the season begins.

4: A bright spark to watch out for, who hasn’t featured in a first team warm-up game, is 17-year-old loose-forward Presley Cassell. The former Siddal and West Bowling junior captained Rhinos’ under-16s and is the club’s reigning scholarship player of the year.

Cassell was a try scorer for Rhinos’ academy in a warm-up win over Bulls last weekend and could feature in Friday’s Harry Jepson OBE Memorial Trophy tie at Hunslet. He is one of the youngsters who has trained with the full-time squad in pre-season and is also studying to be an electrician - so Wakefield Trinity might fancy signing him on loan!

5: Bradford Bulls were 14th in the provisional IMG rankings announced last year, which suggests they aren’t far off a return to the top-flight under the new qualification criteria. That’s welcome news for Rhinos who would be delighted to see the derby back on the fixture list.

Bulls have retained a hard core of supporters and history shows fair weather fans will jump on board if marketing is done right and the team are successful. Another big city club would be a welcome addition to Super League, but Bulls still have a lot of work still to do on and off the pitch. The facilities and playing surface need upgrading and the stock car track circling the pitch is an eyesore which makes the place look worse than it actually is. Team-wise though, they are a decent side who could vie with the likes of Toulouse, Featherstone and York for second spot behind Wakefield Trinity in the Championship this year.