Point to prove: six Leeds Rhinos stars aiming for a big year in 2023

It is the first time they have had a full pre-season under coach Rohan Smith and he has put together a much-changed squad, including eight new signings and four players drafted in from Leeds’ lower grades.

Leeds have 10 players who are out of contract at the end of this season, some key individuals returning from injury and youngsters determined to make their mark.

Here’s six individuals with, for various reasons, a point to prove in 2023.

1: David Fusitu’a.

The former New Zealand and Tonga Test winger’s first season at Leeds, in 2022, didn’t go the way he would have hoped.

He suffered several injury setbacks and a calf strain brought his campaign to a premature halt in August.

Fusitu’a scored five tries in 14 appearances and showed good signs when he did play, but this is the final year of his contract and - having figured only five times in the NRL during 2021 because of a hamstring problem - the 28-year-old will want to be on the field and scoring tries on a regular basis.

2: Levi Edwards.

The second-row or centre was promoted straight from Rhinos’ scholarship into the full-time squad ahead of the 2021 season, along with Morgan Gannon.

At the time, then-coach Richard Agar hailed the duo as “perhaps generational talents”. Since then Gannon has gone on to become a Super League regular, but Edwards, now 19, is yet to make his senior debut for Rhinos.

He has impressed in the Championship, during loan spells with Batley Bulldogs and York City Knights and, with his contract due to expire this autumn, will be keen to make a top-flight breakthrough in 2023.

3: Jarrod O’Connor.

The 21-year-old had an outstanding season in 2022, when he was voted Yorkshire Evening Post Shooting Star.

After initially being lined up to spend much of the campaign on loan at Bradford Bulls, he was ever-present under Smith, playing 25 times.

O’Connor, who scored a crucial try in Rhinos’ semi-final win at Wigan Warriors, kept captain Kruise Leeming out of the Grand Final starting lineup and has moved up 10 places on the squad list, from 24 to 14.

Success brings its own pressures. Players sometimes drop away after their breakthrough year - so called ‘second season syndrome’ - and O’Connor’s challenge is to avoid that and kick on again.

4: Kruise Leeming.

Leeds’ captain had a strong season in 2022 and was unfortunate not to be part of England’s World Cup squad.

That snub is an incentive, but an injury suffered in July took its toll and O’Connor was preferred as Leeds’ starting nine during the post-season series.

Leeming is keen to regain his starting place and the form he showed before his injury. In addition, Smith has yet to confirm Rhinos’ captain or leadership group for the new campaign.

5: Derrell Olpherts.

The former Castleford back joined Rhinos on a two-year deal in pre-season, having played in the lower divisions with Dewsbury Rams, Hemel Stags and Newcastle Thunder before joining Salford Red Devils in 2018 and Tigers two years later.

With wingers Ash Handley and Fusitu’a already on the books and Liam Tindall pushing for a spot, it was a signing out of left field, but Olpherts may get his first opportunity at centre.

He had a big year last season, scoring 13 Super League tries, making more tackle busts than any other player and ranking second for carries and the third-most metres made.

He faces fierce competition for a place, but the move is an opportunity to take his game to a new level.

6: Rohan Smith.

The Australian was a surprise choice of coach last spring, after Agar resigned, but his appointment proved a masterstroke.

Leeds looked like a different team under Smith, winning 13 of his 19 games in charge - after three victories in 12 before he arrived - and going from relegation candidates to Grand Finalists.

Having inherited a team when he arrived, Smith has had more time to put his own stamp on things, both in terms of new faces and fresh ideas in pre-season.

Smith has quickly become a Rhinos hero, but last year’s achievements mean greater expectation and the challenge now is to have Rhinos competing for silverware on all fronts.