Sean Long believes Morgan Gannon is destined for big things - after being blown away by the forward the first time he saw him.
Gannon enjoyed a superb rookie campaign for the Rhinos, playing 12 Super League games for the Rhinos on their way to the play-off semi-finals.
The youngster is still just 17, making his emergence even more remarkable, but Long says there was never any apprehension of throwing the former Siddal youngster in at the deep end.
"I'd seen it in pre-season when we were doing team-on-team in small-sided games," he said.
"They brought this young kid in, Morgan Gannon, and I was like 'who is that.' Straight away, you could see he had something, straight away.
"I'd not seen him play at Siddal, he'd only played 16 months prior to playing Super League. It was a big jump for him but after seeing him in training I said he could play back-row. When he gets older you can move him into the middle, a bit like Sean O'Loughlin did.
"He's been outstanding, he really as, and you don't know where he'll end up moving forward, but if he does end up at loose forward that's good for us as there aren't many knocking about."
Long has taken great satisfaction in working with the club's young stars as their contributions have increased on the field.
"The young guys had to step up and did a great job I thought, they were outstanding, lads like Jack Broadbent and Mikolaj Oledzki stepped up and have been picked for their country. Kruise Leeming has done well too.
"The young kids, Leeds, Wigan and St Helens have always promoted their young lads and we've needed that to be fair. I think they will be better for it, I know we've improved our squad but if they make a statement that they want to keep their place, it's up to them.
"I like young lads because they're raw and they soak it all in and have no bad habits. You can mould them how you want them and they pick it up pretty quick. They crack on and do as you say. We're fortunate at the Rhinos to have them coming through and they're easy to coach."
