Morgan Gannon is probably going to depart the Leeds Rhinos at the end of this season, according to coach Brad Arthur.
The NRL team New Zealand Warriors has expressed interest in the highly regarded second-rower, who is in the last year of his contract.
Arthur stated that Leeds Rhinos have done everything in their power to retain the 21-year-old, but he acknowledged that he doesn’t expect him to stay, following Friday’s 28–6 victory over Huddersfield Giants, in which Gannon played the entire 80 minutes.
The club and Bleasey [sporting director Ian Blease] made a substantial offer to him,” Arthur revealed.
“They’ll sort that out in the next couple of days, but the club can’t do any more. I don’t think he is staying, but as far as I am aware, he hasn’t signed any contracts.”
Brad Arthur reflects on Kallum Watkins’ second Leeds Rhinos debut
As one second-rower is set to move on, another made an instant impact on his return. Former captain Kallum Watkins – who rejoined Rhinos from Salford Red Devils last week – was among the substitutes for his second debut, 17 years to the day after his first.
He was among the try scorers and Arthur said: “It was nice for him and good for the group as well.
The boys were pretty happy for him. You can see his leg speed through the middle third of the field gives us a bit of a different look at times. He can go to the edge and the centres so he gives us a bit of flexibility.”
Rhinos ran in five tries as they picked up a third win from their last four Betfred Super League games, after leading bottom of the table Giants 6-0 at the break.
Reflecting on the match, Arthur said: “I was really happy with 70 minutes of it, just the last 10 minutes we got a little bit loose.
“I was a bit disappointed with that, but overall, we’re starting to learn how to build a game and we showed good patience in the first half. We had a fair bit of ball at their tryline and I thought we attacked really well at the tryline. We got held up a few times, they made some last-ditch tackles, but we held our nerve, we weren’t chasing the scoreboard.
“You’ve got to give them credit because I thought they tried really hard and they scrambled really well in their defensive line, but we knew if we kept persisting with it they’d fall away at some stage with the amount of possession we had and how physical we were.”
Leeds still chasing 80-minute performance
Despite the narrow interval lead, Arthur felt Leeds had the game won by that stage. He said: “I know it was only 6-0, but I was comfortable we had done enough and we’d get the rewards in the second half.”
The coach admitted it is “real hard to get a complete 80 minutes [performance]’. He said: I don’t know if we are ever going to get it, but we are going to keep striving for it. We kept scrambling on our tryline, which was really good, at the back end.
“We had a try against us, but it’s part of our development as a team and some individuals are learning as well. We gave away a penalty on tackle four, defended two sets and then ran into touch, but the only way these guys are going to get experience and get better is by making these errors and learning from them. Our response to them is much more pleasing for us over the last few weeks.
“The club and Bleasey [sporting director Ian Blease] made a substantial offer to him,” Arthur revealed.
“They’ll sort that out in the next couple of days, but the club can’t do any more. I don’t think he is staying, but as far as I am aware, he hasn’t signed any contracts.”
r him and good for the group as well.
“The boys were pretty happy for him. You can see his leg speed through the middle third of the field gives us a bit of a different look at times. He can go to the edge and the centres so he gives us a bit of flexibility.”
Rhinos ran in five tries as they picked up a third win from their last four Betfred Super League games, after leading bottom of the table Giants 6-0 at the break.
“You’ve got to give them credit because I thought they tried really hard and they scrambled really well in their defensive line, but we knew if we kept persisting with it they’d fall away at some stage with the amount of possession we had and how physical we were.
Arthur opted to start with Gannon, moving James Bentley to the bench. He also took the opportunity to give some players a rest, not using Keenan Palasia in the second half and replacing Lachie Miller and James McDonnell late on. He explained: “We are in a position where we’ve got a really strong forward pack in terms of depth and different combinations we can use.
“It was a good opportunity to take James McDonnell off with 20 minutes to go – he has done every minute of training and he plays every minute of games. That 20 minutes might help him in a few games’ time and we made some changes to combinations, in case a few games down the track we have to go with those combinations. I am grateful to the team for putting me in a position where I can do that.”
