Stalwart Jonny Wainhouse leaves Leeds Rhinos after 20 years

After a 20-year association with the club, Wainhouse has begun a new career with a company which makes construction materials out of recycled plastic.

Wainhouse played as a hooker for Rhinos’ academy, coached at the same level and worked in the community for the club’s foundation, as well as playing for and coaching at Hunslet.

Appointed assistant coach of the academy aged just 21, on a part-time basis, he went full-time five years ago working alongside Chris Plume, Adrian Morley and Rob Burrow and said he will look back fondly on his time at Leeds.

“I’ve been at Leeds 20 years and I’ve had some amazing experiences,” Wainouse said.

“I’ve been to Australia and Jamaica, I’ve been involved in Grand Finals with the academy as a player and a coach and I’ve been involved with the development of a lot of players who have progressed to the first team.

“I will look back on my time at Leeds as a really positive one.

“I went to Leeds as a child and I left as a man with a lot of experience which is transferable.

“I am wholly grateful for that.”

Wainhouse - who played in Leeds’ academy alongside the likes of Lee Smith, Carl Ablett and Nick Scrutoin - paid tribute to chief executive Gary Hetherington, who he regards as an “unsung hero of the club”.

He said: “He gets the flak and he doesn’t get the praise. He has been Mr Constant since I have been there; he hasn’t always worked with me directly, but he has managed the senior management who have given me the opportunities I’ve had.

“I have gone from community development coaching to being a player and an academy coach and a community manager.

“I am extremely grateful to the club for my time there.”

The way the club does things off the field and in the community has changed for the better over the past two decades, Wainhouse reckons.

“I came to the club as a young player and at the time I was part of the apprenticeship scheme,” he recalled.

“As part of that, I coached in the community and I enjoyed it.

“A lot of the lads messed about, but I didn’t and off the back of that Paul Fletcher, who was head of community at the time, pushed for me to be a community development officer.

“I was going to go into the Marines and I’d signed up to go on a three-day training camp, but Paul said to me if I didn’t like it, I could join the Marines then.

“At Leeds we encourage players to have different strands, to have a different career alongside playing. I then went from being community development officer to community manager and I created summer camps, winning team assemblies, healthy lifestyles and the Rhinos Challenge. That will be my legacy.”

Wainhouse’s new career is a complete departure.

He admitted: “I never expected to be involved with recycling plastic, but it is fascinating.

“I have been offered an opportunity by Lynch Construction Services, who are based in Leeds and operate throughout West Yorkshire.

“They want me to be production manager.

“There’s an issue across the world with plastic and they’ve come up with an idea to put it into concrete, into breezeblocks and roof tiles and so on.

“It is an up and coming business that has just started to really progress and develop.

“They are at the start of a journey and that’s helpful for me because everyone’s learning at the same rate.”