Leeds Rhinos' new signings: YEP comment

YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on Leeds Rhinos' latest recruitment news as Keenan Palasini and Cooper Jenkins sign on.

Transcript

00:00It's been a bit of a wait for Leeds Rhinos fans, but they've now got a couple of new

00:04signings to get excited about, both prop forwards who are playing in Australia at the moment.

00:11The first of those is Samoan international from the Gold Coast Titans, Keenan Palacini.

00:18The second is from North's Devils in the Queensland Cup, and he goes by the name of Cooper Jenkins.

00:25I don't think Leeds fans will know an awful lot about Jenkins. He's in his first year

00:29with the North's Devils this season. 23-year-old, big, fast front-rower, started out as a centre.

00:39He's been one of the best players in the Queensland Cup this year by all accounts, helped the

00:45North's Devils, which is former Leeds coach Rowan Smith's old club, helped them win their

00:50grand final, and they went on and won the state championship against New South Wales

00:55Cup champions just this weekend. He had a good game that day. He's certainly impressed

01:02Leeds' management, what they've seen of him. Brad Arthur, Rhinos coach, feels that he still

01:08has a lot of work to do, but could be someone who's going to be a star of the future, and

01:14could really make a name for himself at the Rhinos. I don't think he'll be a regular starter

01:20next season. He's someone they see as a little bit of a project, but certainly somebody they've

01:25got high hopes for. As for Palosini, he could get an early look at Headingley this year.

01:31The Samoans are due to play there on November 2nd against England in the second of the two-match

01:38series, and he's in line to be selected for that tour party, so I think that'll be a good

01:45thing all round. It'll be a chance for him to have a look at his new surroundings and

01:48for Leeds fans and Super Leeds sports in general to get a good look at him. He's been

01:55pretty much regular in the NRL with Gold Coast Titans and before that the Brisbane Broncos.

02:01He's big, he's tough, quite mobile, and he's somebody that Leeds believe will have all

02:07the makings of a firm fan's favourite at Headingley. So that's two additions that we now know about.

02:15There's going to be at least one more. It looks like Jake Connor will be coming in from

02:19Huddersfield Giants, probably to play at centre for Leeds next season. He's surplused requirements

02:26at the Giants. There's no doubt about his ability, certainly a good player. He's got

02:30a little bit of a reputation for being a hothead, if you like. Had a couple of spells at Huddersfield,

02:37also played for Hull FC, and he's been capped by England and Great Britain. There's no doubt

02:41about his playing ability. If Leeds can get him to knuckle down and be a good team man,

02:48he'll be a good addition for the Rhinos. Obviously his arrival will raise question marks over

02:53what's going to happen to the current centres, particularly the Aussie Paul Momorowski. I

02:58understand that he's considering an offer to go back to Australia in a coaching role.

03:03So it'll be interesting to see what happens there. But Leeds finally have some new additions

03:09coming in and something for fans to get excited about. It's been a long wait. It was April

03:14when Leeds announced that Ryan Hall was returning to the club. There's been nothing since then

03:18other than departures. So now there's a couple of signings coming in and I think Leeds can

03:24certainly expect to see good things from those, particularly the two forwards. A little bit

03:30of an unknown for both of them, but two players with real potential. So, exciting times.