Kruise Leeming on the sport and the individual Super League should learn from

Rugby league is on the eve of a new dawn as IMG come into the sport to “re-imagine” the great game.

They have a lot of ideas ready for the sport including the re-introduction of licencing, more international rugby and less fixtures.

But the big question is, how to promote the sport?

Speaking to Serious About Rugby League, Kruise Leeming has a few ideas including the importance of creating stars and Leeming suggested that the sport could learn from Eddie Hearn and his approach to Darts:

“Everyone has had ideas but nobody would come to the table but I think IMG, the things they’re saying but at least we’re having a go.

“I listen to Eddie Hearn speak about taking over darts and what he went after was personalities. If we could pick a couple of players and make personalities out of them people come to watch personalities.

“I feel the sport is good enough to watch, we just need to get people watching it.

“Hopefully IMG can do a good job. Them trying to take it to the next level can only be a good thing.”

Leeming also opened up on pre-season at the Rhinos:

“I think we have had a pre-season, we have a good group and we haven’t had that many players injured this time, in the last two seasons we have had a lot of injuries so that’s a big thing for us is keeping everyone fit. We’ve brought in extra medical staff, extra high quality staff and they seem to be keeping everyone on the field and the more often we can do that the better.

“So, we’re really looking forward to it.

“There are some alterations to the way we play. The calls have been changed but that only takes about a week. Pre-season as a whole looks similar.”

Leeming also gave his thoughts on the Six Again rule:

“I feel fitness is the biggest driver of our sport, you can be as good as you want but fatigue makes fools of us all. We play a tough sport and there are going to be times where I will be blowing, but if I can limit those I can push on more plays and be involved in more of the game.

“The fitter you get the more of the 80 minutes you can play and not being a bystander.”

“You can exploit it as a nine, the more time the ball is in play the better, that’s where I get the edge, If there’s so many stoppages in play, you can’t get at them.

“That’s why fitness is so key, because that way I can exploit it with them.”