Leeds Rhinos women on right track ahead of Headingley showdown v Featherstone Rovers says Grace Field

Rhinos have won all seven previous meetings with Rovers, scoring more than 50 points in five of them. Leeds’ Betfred Women’s Super League campaign began with an 18-10 defeat at Wigan Warriors last week and, after a series of heavy losses to the current champions in 2025, forward Grace Field reckons that battling performance showed they are on the right track.

She said: “I think, given the scores that Wigan subjected us to last year, to only lose by eight points is real testament to how hard the squad has worked in the off-season to pull together these combinations and really tighten up what we do as a club. We are really proud of the girls, particularly given the conditions on the day and the injuries in the game.”

Rhinos failed to reach a major final last year for the first time in their history, but Field believes they have made progress under coach Lois Forsell and new assistants Richard Tillotson and Barry Eaton. “I have been here for three years and the professionalism continues to get better,” she stated.

“What we are offered as a team has taken massive strides and I think the competition as a whole is making an effort to professionalise the women’s game. We have had new coaches come in and it’s good to have a fresh pair of eyes to look over the processes. They have definitely changed up how we are playing and how we are defending and our processes in terms of attack.”

Rhinos under-19s women face their Feartherstone counterparts in a curtain-raiser kicking off at 11.30am.

Rhinos Women (v Featherstone): Enright, Stead, Whitehead, Howard, Walker, Donnelly, Bennet, Glynn, Owen, Brown, Bruce, Boyd, Short, Bryer, Field, Sharp, Blakey, Naidole, Wambalu, Hirst, Kennedy.

Kick-off: Saturday, 2pm.