Leeds Rhinos rookie Alfie Edgell talks 'bond' with fellow youngsters, playing 3 key roles and Catalans clash

Edgell, Jack Sinfield and Riley Lumb were all in the side for last week’s Betfred Super League win against London Broncos and two more 19 year olds, Ben Littlewood and Ned McCormack, were unused squad members. Of those, only Littlewood has yet to make a first team appearance.

Rhinos chose to go into this season without experienced cover in the backs and Edgell reckons it is a policy that will pay off in the long-term as their young guns gain more experience. “We all get on well together and we’ve been training together for some time now - people like me, Riley and Jack,” Edgell said. “I think we are forming a bond and hopefully taking it into first grade.”

An injury to Lumb - who had scored two tries in a man of the match performance against Hull FC five days earlier - gave Edgell an unexpectedly early opportunity off the bench last week and could mean he starts away to Catalans Dragons on Saturday, but left him with mixed feelings.

Lumb suffered hamstring damage in Leeds’ first set of the game and his teammate said: “Even his first carry was good. I was gutted for him, but I know he will come back stronger. We are all behind him.”

Coach Rohan Smith likes to have an outside-back on the bench when Rhyse Martin, normally a second-rower, starts at centre and that policy proved valuable when Lumb limped off. Earlier in the week Edgell had been pencilled in to start on a wing, but the plan changed when Ash Handley was cleared to return from a rib injury.

“I had prepared to play on the wing so that helped me out, but it was still a bit of a surprise getting on that early,” Edgell revealed. “I’d been preparing to play on the left-wing, but not much changes.”

The former Kippax junior had barely sat down before he was back up again and on the field. He admitted that wasn’t ideal, but stressed: “I think every substitute has got to have that in the back of your mind when you’re preparing for a game, thinking what could happen. I think it went pretty well, I just kind of took the basics and tried to build my game off that - catch my kicks, take my carries and I think I did all right.”

Last week was Edgell’s fourth appearance of the season - three of them as a substitute - and his third different position, having started as a full-back and come off the bench at centre and wing in successive games. Smith has stressed he regards being able to play multiple roles as a way for young players to break into the team and Edgell noted: “I think that’s been proved in the last two weeks.

“If I couldn’t do that I probably wouldn’t have got a game. Last week was my second time playing centre and it was my first time playing win [against London]. I have trained there quite a bit so it’s not unfamiliar.”

Edgell made his debut as a substitute in the final game of last season, against Castleford Tigers and has been 18th man several times this year. Clubs are now allowed to name an extra substitute who can be used if there are two failed head injury assessments in the same game.

“Even when I have been 18th man it has been good to be around it,” he said. “It stands me in good stead for when I do end up playing, much calmer and there’s not as many nerves.”

From a team perspective, successive victories mean Rhinos will go into Saturday’s game at Dragons with some momentum behind them. “We got out of it what we needed,” Edgell said of last Friday.

“We all enjoyed it out there, it was flowing pretty well and we all enjoyed our roles. We like a fast game, with how we play and I think that showed. For a lot of the game we were in real control.”

The next two games, at Catalans and St Helens, will be far tougher, but Edgell added: “We showed what we can do the first time we played Catalans this year and for quite a lot of the game the first time we played Saints. We can take positives from that, but there’s still plenty to work on.”