Oli Endicott on his decision to return for a fourth season at Leeds Knights and playing alongside Finley Bradon and Innes Gallacher ...
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00:00I mean, I think it's pretty clear that Leeds is a great club.
00:06Steve and Ryan have got, you know, it's a great organisation.
00:11Ryan's a great coach.
00:12I like playing for Ryan.
00:14All the boys are great.
00:15And obviously, it's a quality rink.
00:18And obviously, all the trophies and silverware that we've been winning over the last couple of years,
00:22it's been like a pleasure to do that.
00:24And I don't think a change right now for me is necessary.
00:27This is a place that feels a lot like home at the moment with my hockey.
00:31So, it was definitely on the cards to come back when Ryan wanted to sign me.
00:36So, I was a bit of a no-brainer.
00:39How has Leeds, to your mind, helped your development over these last sort of two and a half, three years?
00:45Yeah, I mean, development-wise, I think I've got a lot better as a player.
00:49I think I'm getting a bit older.
00:52You know, I'm not so much as a junior anymore.
00:54You know, I think Ryan's a great coach to take me from, like, a boy to a bit of a man now.
00:59And I think I'm starting to find my feet in this league and prove that I can play regular ice time,
01:04put up good points and stick up to my teammates and just know my role in this league
01:10and for what team I'm playing for.
01:12For example, with Leeds, I know my role on the team.
01:16I know what I can do to help us, you know, win games and just get that trophies at the end of the year.
01:21You formed a formidable line last year, very much a go-to line, Ryan said on a number of occasions,
01:27with Innes Gallagher and Finlay Braden.
01:30I mean, that obviously may change next year.
01:33But just on sort of playing with those two guys, how good and how rewarding was it?
01:38Or how enjoyable was it for you?
01:40Yeah, last year was, to be fair, one of my favourite seasons at Leeds.
01:44I mean, with it being Matty Hayward's retirement, that was, you know, making it a bit of an emotional year.
01:50But we all dug in.
01:52I think the thing with me, Innes and Fin, is we just read the game so well together.
01:56I just know where they're going to be.
01:58They help in all areas.
01:59We move the puck well.
02:01We've got each other's backs.
02:02And I think that just showed that, as a line, we're quite a deadly line.
02:06Because you've obviously got your first, your brownies and your Macs and the imports and stuff like that, putting up the points.
02:13But I think our secondary scoring for Leeds last year was key because we had big games where we did show up.
02:19And I think that, as a line, we are, you know, we contributed a lot last year in a lot of different ways.
02:25We're all very different players in our own ways, you know.
02:29But I think we work really well together and it's going to be a good year, I think, again.
02:34So hopefully we'll just see what Ryan does with the lines and, you know, we'll go from there.