Leeds Rhinos' talented bunch of youngsters are helping to keeps standards high in pre-season training, says assistant coach Jamie Jones-Buchanan.
The Rhinos were forced to shut their training ground last month due to a coronavirus breakout within the camp as a number of players and backroom staff tested positive, including Jones-Buchanan.
However, after an 11-day break, those able to returned to training on Monday morning and got back to work as they continue to build up towards the upcoming 2021 campaign which gets underway in a little over seven weeks.
The disruption doesn’t seem to have dampened spirits, though, and the Leeds coach has been delighted with the level of training, insisting it will only get better in the coming weeks.
“What’s really impressed me is the young blokes,” Jones-Buchanan told the Leeds official website.
“Because of the nature of last year a lot of them got some opportunities that they might not ordinarily have done.
“They played in some really big games, had some big minutes and they’re pushing from that bottom end and forcing the older lads to be good.
“You’re going to get some world class players coming in petty soon in Matty Prior and Zane (Tetevano) and that’s only going to lift it again and then you have Galey (Luke Gale) coming back and a few other lads returning from injury.
“It’s a really nice jigsaw and when you add all the pieces it’s really, really promising and who knows where it could go when you put it all together again.”
