Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella has detailed how his release from Leeds Rhinos helped shape him to where he is, on the precipice of history.
Realistically, history has already been made with Hull KR having made it to their first-ever Grand Final but the Robins aren’t done yet and intend to break the 20-year curse that has befallen the last five first-time Grand Finalists.
Over the years Catalans, Salford, Castleford, Warrington and even Rovers’ rivals Hull FC have made it to the Grand Final but they’ve all fallen short and that’s the trend that Hull KR must buck if they’re to win at Old Trafford on Saturday night.
For captain Elliot Minchella, this day has been both a long time coming and one that looked improbable when he almost fell out of the game as a youngster after being released from Leeds Rhinos.
Minchella debuted for Leeds as a 17-year-old but swiftly found himself on a building site after off-field issues led to his release but over a decade on, he’s set to lead Hull KR out at Old Trafford.
He’s now spoken on The Bench Podcast detailing the journey that saw him aiming to replace Kevin Sinfield as Leeds Rhinos’ number 13 to rugby league exile and back to the top.
Hull KR captain opens up on Leeds Rhinos exit
Credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com
Speaking about his time at Leeds Rhinos, Minchella conceded that he was perhaps over-confident, something that would let him down as he took his eye off the ball despite aiming high.
He explained: “I think probably I had a little bit too much confidence as a young 16 or 17-year old and I ended up going away from the hard work kind of thing.
“I was always quite talented as a young player and probably among the best couple of players in my team so I always thought I was a bit above my station kind of thing. I was aiming high. I wanted to be the loose forward at Leeds at the time and that’s where I was.”
Minchella would play just six games for Leeds Rhinos, debuting in 2013 before effectively being exiled from the team in 2014 after an off-field incident which led to a season-long loan with London Broncos.
“I aimed high and got myself caught up in some off-field stuff whilst at Leeds and so I went down a different track to get to where I am today but it’s probably made me who I am,” the Hull KR captain explained as he reflected on where it went wrong at Headingley.
‘Thought I’d blown it’ – Why Elliot Minchella is the shining example of hard work beating talent
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“I thought I’d blown it, to be honest,” Minchella admitted to podcast hosts Jenna Brooks and Jon Wilkin, adding: “I was talented enough but I probably didn’t work hard enough and didn’t value hard work. I thought that being talented would get me to where I wanted to be but the world doesn’t work like that.”
It was not until six months into his Rhinos exile that a young Minchella took stock of the situation, leading him to the path of redemption and recovery and now Old Trafford.
“It probably took about six months after that. I was working on a building site. I’d gone from being full-time with Leeds at 17 and debuted at 17 and within a couple of years I was on a building site and I was labouring for bricklayers. I remember climbing up a ladder with cement on my shoulder and thinking what has happened?
“You look in the mirror and think ‘Where am I going to go here? Am I going to be a rugby player? Or, you know, is it done?’ I thought that I’d still got something inside me burning and I was not done yet.
“So I was at Sheffield for two years, Bradford for two years, and then came here.”
Since arriving at Hull KR in 2020 Minchella has played 99 games for the club with Saturday’s Grand Final set to mark his 100th for the Robins. There would be no greater way to celebrate than for Hull KR to become just the fifth club to lift the Super League title.
