Derrell Olpherts compares playing at Headingley to the Jungle after leaving Castleford Tigers for Leeds Rhinos

Derrell Olpherts has swapped Castleford Tigers for Leeds Rhinos ahead of 2023 and has taken on Richie Myler’s number 16 shirt for next season as Myler moves to the number one jersey.

It is a big move for Olpherts as he swaps between two West Yorkshire rivals and he is expecting some “interesting” experiences in front of the Leeds fans as he compared playing at Headingley and the Jungle.

He said exclusively to Serious About Rugby League:

“I know what the fans are like so, it will be interesting I’ll tell you that.

“I’m looking forward to the first home game at Headingley, it’s a fantastic stadium and they’ve got a good fan base. It’s a great ground.

“At home at Cas it’s an old school style stadium which has it’s different perks but Leeds’ is top tier.”

His final Castleford game came at Headingley when he knew he would be joining Leeds, though this didn’t change his focus:

“They weren’t my team, Castleford were my team, that’s where my intentions were. I didn’t owe nothing to Leeds yet but I owed everything to Castleford because they were my team but it was a bit of a weird one, it was a great game and you look what Leeds did to get to the Grand Final, it was a special achievement.

“It was an emotional one, I’ve made a lot of mates there and I couldn’t say a bad thing about Castleford as a club. I loved my time there, it was a good three years of my life there.”