Three games with a fractured leg: Leeds Rhinos teenager Alfie Edgell's tough road to Super League squad

The 18-year-old full-back was a try scorer in this year’s academy Grand Final win over St Helens, having played several games earlier in the campaign with a fractured leg.

“I broke my fibula in a game against Hull KR,” Edgell recalled. “I thought it was just a little knock so I carried on playing for a few weeks, but it was getting worse.

“I didn’t want to say anything because I wanted to carry on playing, but I had to say something and it turned out I’d got a fracture. It wasn’t a bad one, but I played three games with it, I think.”

Edgell’s determination was rewarded in September when he - along with Riley Lumb and Jack Smith - signed a first team contract.

Max Simpson - a former teammate of Edgell at the Kippax community club - and Jack Sinfield both made their Super League debut this year, in their first season at full-time level and Edgell’s sights are set on doing the same.

He is keen to impress coach Rohan Smith in pre-season and said: “That’s always got to be at the front of my mind, every training session. Everything I do, whether it’s in the gym or on the field, I have got to try and win a shirt and earn a place.

“It [being in the senior squad] is so exciting, it’s everything I have worked for since I was a kid, not just since I signed at Leeds.

“My whole life has been towards this. I have always been a Leeds fan, home and away. I remember me and Max Simpson going to Catalans to watch them.

“We have played together since we were five and to be back playing with him, it is so good. We understand each other really well, on and off the pitch.”

Recalling the moment he was offered a full-time deal, Edgell said: “I was at academy training and [player pathway development manager] John Bastian and Chev [Walker, then under-19s coach and now Smith’s assistant] pulled me into the office and said Rohan wants to speak to you next Tuesday and it’s good news.

“I went in on the Tuesday with my mum and dad and found out off Rohan. I was overwhelmed, really.”

Edgell scored six tries in eight appearances for the academy this year and also featured half a dozen times in Rhinos’ reserves.

He is not totally new to first team training. He revealed: “I finished my ‘A’ Level exams in May and I’ve been training with them since then.

“I think I have really grown into it, over that time. From then until now, I have grown in confidence and it was a really good marker for pre-season.

“It’s a big difference from the academy, I noticed that in the first couple of weeks. I was getting home and feeling so tired, but I am used to it now.”

Edgell, who identified Danny McGuire as his childhood Rhinos hero, added: “I think full-back is my main position, but I can play half as a running number six. I think it’s good I can play both, but I definitely prefer full-back.”

The teenager has already tasted success as a member of the Rhinos side who beat hosts St Helens in golden-point extra-time to win the academy championship this year.

Rhinos lost only two games all season and Edgell reflected: “It was awesome. The ups and downs we’ve had in the season, individually and as a team, only made it sweeter.

“We lost to Bradford and that really affected confidence, but we trained hard and got back on it and picked our form up at the right time.”