When people first started talking about young Morgan Gannon, the exciting then 17-year-old in Leeds Rhinos’ squad going into 2021 after he was awarded the number 31 shirt, he was described as a ball playing 13 in the mould of Paul Sculthorpe in the eyes of Richard Agar.
He has since developed into a top notch second-row moving up to the number 20 shirt going into the new season.
The youngster just turned 19 but missed out on last year’s Grand Final due to a head injury.
However, it sounds like that we could finally see some of that ball playing ability from Gannon in 2023 as coach Rohan Smith revealed speaking on the Rhinos’ You Tube channel.
“Gannon is going really well, he has been playing a bit of six in training and that has been going well,” Smith said.
“He is having the ball in his hands a lot which has seen him bring out some really nice footy. We expect a lot and he will step forward again this year. We have got a really good squad with depth in every position.”
He went onto confirm that he will get game time in the halves next term: “I think he will get game time at 6. It is going to take a squad to compete this season and achieve what we want this season.”
It will take the pressure of Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer both of whom suffered with injuries in 2022.
Meanwhile, it will ensure Smith won’t have to play Richie Myler, Kruise Leeming or Corey Johnson out of position next year.
It will be interesting to see whether Gannon starts at six ahead of young Jack Sinfield in 2023 after Sinfield moved up to number 29.
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