Leeds prop Prior looking forward to Super League’s ‘different attacking philosophies’

New Leeds prop Matt Prior says he is looking forward to having to adapt his game to combat the “different philosophies” of attack in Super League.

The 6ft2in forward joined the Rhinos from Cronulla in November after 12 years and over 250 appearances in the NRL.

In that time, he played with several current Super League stars and says it was them, as well as Leeds head coach Richard Agar, who convinced him to make the move to the Northern Hemisphere.

“I spoke to Rich about his vision for the club,” said the 32-year-old. “They’ve had a couple of years of not being successful but he wants to rebuild and put them back at the top where they belong and I wanted to be part of that.

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“I also spoke with Tinirau Arona who plays for Wakey. He said he loves it over here and has had a really good time. Joseph Paulo at St Helens said the same, and I spoke to a few ex-players who had been over here and they said they’d enjoyed it so I guess that made my decision much.

“The first couple of weeks were hard with the jetlag you get from travelling. I think the first week I was asleep by 5 o’clock every day. I had other things to do but didn’t feel like doing anything apart from sleeping, but after I came through that I started to settle in.”

Prior’s arrival is a welcome one at Headingley, after the departures of Brad Singleton, Nathaniel Peteru and Trent Merrin left them significantly light in the forwards.

It’s been a busy day of transfers for Leeds Rhinos.

⬅ Trent Merrin

➡ Matt Prior

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— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 29, 2019

He’s therefore likely to play a big role in the Rhinos’ forward pack in 2020, but insists he knows, to a certain extent, what to expect from the competition.

“When I was growing up I always kept an eye on it (Super League),” he added. “Every team plays a lot different over here.

“In the NRL most teams do similar plays but over here I’ve noticed the coaches have a lot of input in the direction they want to attack and all have different philosophies about the way they want to play.

“It’s a bit more exciting and there’s more uniqueness from team to team which I’m really looking forward to.”