Leeds Rhinos CEO tips who will make it to the Super League Grand Final

Leeds Rhinos are one of Super League’s most successful sides but they’re without a Grand Final victory since 2017, something that CEO Gary Hetherington could change this year.

The Rhinos are one of just four teams to lift the Grand Final trophy but they’ve not tasted that success over the past six seasons and have only made it to Old Trafford once in those past six seasons.

For a team with eight Grand Final wins and a recent history of success, that hasn’t been good enough and now club Chief Executive Officer Gary Hetherington has revealed the club have turned a corner and is set to challenge again.

Hetherington was a guest on Sky Sports’ The Bench podcast and he told hosts Jenna Brooks and Jon Wilkin just how difficult the lack of success has been in recent years for the serial winners.

“Yeah, it’s been challenging,” Hetherington confirmed.

“Of course, it has but I do believe that we at Leeds here genuinely are in a better place now than we’ve been for a long time.”

Sky had recently estimated each side’s salary spend for 2024 with the Rhinos nearing the top of the chart after their splash signings of players like Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers.

As such, Sam Tomkins has labelled them underachievers, something that Hetherington will hope to be able to prove wrong come October by adding silverware.

Rhinos aiming to field a “homegrown” team

Hetherington has also claimed that the current crop of young players are among the best that the side have had in the Super League era, a major claim given the strength of the club’s ‘Golden Generation’ with the likes of Kevin Sinfield, Danny Maguire and Rob Burrow.

He said: “We’ve got a really stable and competitive first team squad. We’ve got a really talented coaching staff and a really committed staff. So a lot of the ingredients that you look for behind the scenes, the way that people relate to each other, the way that people co-operate to each other, the desire, the passion that’s within the organisation, all those things that you’ve got to actually be part of the organisation to recognise them, we score pretty high on all those.”

Specifically on the young players, Hetherington added: “We’ve also got probably our best crop of young players that we’ve had for 20 years in actual fact and these are players that over the next three to five years will all progress. Ultimately, we want to be able to put a team out that’s homegrown ideally like we have done in the past – that’s challenging in itself.

“I think all those sort of almost silent indicators that you’re looking for to see how you’re performing… we’re scoring pretty high on them, which argues well for the future, and we’ve got a group of really good committed people.”

Can Leeds Rhinos win the Grand Final?

Hetherington continued to ooze positivity as he suggested that the club have turned a corner and are in the prime position to kick on and create memories for another generation of Rhinos fans, although he was keen to comment on the growing strength in Super League generally.

The Rhinos’ CEO said: “I think this next journey is going to be an exciting one for all the Leeds fans and we’re in pretty good shape recognising that there’s all the competition out there. These clubs are better organized now than they’ve been in the past and everybody’s having a go.”