There is an interesting trend at Leeds in that many sons of their former players are joining the Rhinos academy.
Take Jack Sinfield for example, the young half-back has shown huge potential in his three appearances in 2022 and is of course the son of Leeds legend Kevin Sinfield OBE who led the club to seven Super League titles from 2004 at 15.
Striker Oli Field, son of Jamie Field, is also part of the current first-team squad. Oli may not have played for the first team yet, but he has huge potential.
Meanwhile, Morgan Gannon is the son of former Halifax man Jim Gannon and is excelling at Leeds despite being 18 years old. David Gibbons’ son is also at the academy. One of the Gibbons twins alongside his brother Anthony, the two played for Leeds in 1996 – the first Super League season.
His son Joe is a highly valued member of the Leeds academy and shone for the reserves in 2022. He was recently joined by his brother David who is currently at Hunslet but recently played for the Rhinos reserves.
Further down the academy are two sons of Leeds’ golden generation. Winner of the 2004 Harry Sunderland Award, four-time Super League champion and two-time Grand Final goalscorer, Matt Diskin’s son Joe made his club academy debut, as did Lore Jones-Buchanan, the son of Jamie Jones-Buchanan who spent 20 years at the club winning seven Grand Finals.
Now his brother Dacx has also joined the Leeds academy being one of 15 players Leeds announced today will join their scholarship set up in 2023.
The full list is as follows with two players from Oulton Raiders who produced Ryan Hall, Ash Handley and Jack Walker while King Cross has three players with Dacx Jones-Buchanan’s Stanningley the best represented team with four players:
Luke Fagan (Stanningley)
Zak Lloyd (Siddal)
Daniel Stelfox (Oulton Raiders)
Jacob Hardy (Lock Lane)
William Hunter (Shaw Cross Sharks)
James Rowney (Stanningley)
Thomas Richardson (King Cross)
Logan Staveley-Carr (Oulton Raiders)
Hughie Tinker (King Cross)
Cobi Ellis (Dewsbury Celtic)
Kai Irvine (King Cross)
Dacx Jones-Buchanan (Stanningley)
Caleb Rhodes (Birstall Victoria)
William Wilkinson (Birstall Victoria)
Harvey Butterworth (Stanningley)
Of course, all of these young men are their own people and will be looking to forge their own rugby league careers, regardless of their surname. Leeds have a long tradition of producing stars through their academy, such as the aforementioned Sinfield and Buchanan, as well as Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow.
Any of the 15 could become Leeds’ next big star and all should be delighted to take the first step into the wider world of rugby league.
Good luck to everyone.
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