How Wakefield Trinity’s star signing Morgan Smith was nearly a Leeds Rhinos player

It is exciting times at Wakefield Trinity.

The club are redeveloping their stadium with work being done on the North Stand and East Stand which is set to reach a major milestone in the summer of 2023.

Meanwhile, on the field things are set to be revitalised with young and exciting coach Mark Applegarth taking the reins and he has made an exciting signing already in the shape of Morgan Smith.

A Fev lad, Smith scored 21 tries in 25 games for his hometown club in 2022 as promotion alluded them.

A former Super League player with Warrington and London, he could not pass up an opportunity to return to the top tier when it was offered by Trinity and is hoping to cement himself in the halfback spot next year at Belle Vue replacing Jacob Miller after he left for Castleford which was confirmed this week.

However, it was nearly very different for the 24-year-old who started his professional career at Warrington in Super League debuting in 2016 before going on to make 25 appearances for the club alongside spells away from the club on loan such as at Rochdale.

However, what most people don’t know is that his first steps into the professional game were taken at Leeds Rhinos.

Smith, a product of the Normington Knights amateur club, was taken on by the Rhinos in their scholarship programme when he was just a teenager prior to being tempted away by Warrington as one of the most promising young halves around.

Should he cause Leeds problems in 2023 as a Wakefield player, they may regret the move even more than they possibly do especially as it as been a number of years since the Rhinos produced an academy halfback with Jack Sinfield set to be the next.