Newly appointed Leeds Rhinos co-captain Ash Handley has answered fan questions including one about the new Super League rule of the Captain’s Challenge.
The Captain’s Challenge has existed in the NRL since 2020 but will make its long-awaited debut in Super League in 2025 after being approved at an RFL Council meeting last week. It will actually be used for all televised games meaning it will also be used in some Challenge Cup and Women’s Super League fixtures.
Referees are human and will make mistakes so a Captain’s Challenge will allow each team’s skipper to alert the official and review a decision, so long as they do it within a certain time period.
Ash Handley, having been named co-captain of Leeds Rhinos alongside Cam Smith, will be one of those who can trigger the challenge in 2025 and he’s recently been asked to give his opinion on the new law.
The Rhinos winger took part in a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) in which Leeds and Super League fans literally did ask him anything, ranging from his proudest moment to which Super League mascot would win in a fight.
Unsurprisingly, Handley backed Ronnie the Rhino but his insights on things such as the Captain’s Challenge and what he learned under Rohan Smith were far more telling.
Leeds Rhinos star gives verdict on Captain’s Challenge, Rohan Smith and Super League’s most underrated player
Credit: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Among the dozens of questions, we’ve selected some of the more interesting ones with the Leeds Rhinos winger’s views on the Captain’s Challenge among those.
When asked for his opinion, Handley said: “I am delighted with the Captains Challenge coming in, it will make the game better in general and there is some accountability on the refs. They have to make split-second decisions which could be wrong and alter the course of the game so hopefully, for the benefit of everyone, we can review those calls.”
He was also asked to pick out his favourite try in his career, naming two against St Helens as his favourites, whilst also ruling Shaun Johnson as the best player he’s faced when recalling the ‘freakish stuff’ the Kiwi can do.
A memorable score in 2016 🫡@Ahandley16 picked out this try during his AMA on @Reddit 👇#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/fAbTSjZNcP
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) December 10, 2024
Asked about a rival player he’d love to play with, he answered: “Jack Welsby, I have played with him at England, he is a quality player who knows how to find players and put his winger in space.”
Comments from Leeds forward James McDonnell in the club’s Spirit of the Rhinos documentary noted the ‘complacency’ and ‘divide’ under Rohan Smith, but Handley revealed some of the things that he learned from the Australian coach.
He explained: “Rohan liked to broaden your mind and think in different ways and I took a lot of things about how to live my life away from the field. He had different ways of playing, being unorthodox and that was definitely a string I was able to add to my bow.”
McDonnell was mentioned by Handley as well with the winger noting the recent England call-up when asked about the most underrated player in Super League, a title he gave to a Hull KR man.
“I think Dean Hadley at Hull KR is underrated and James McDonnell at our club.”
