‘Leeds Rhinos is a massive club’ – Why recruit ‘jumped’ at move after tough two years

New Leeds Rhinos recruit Cooper Jenkins has explained his decision to join the club after arriving in the UK.

Jenkins, a much-needed prop signing, was a Queensland Cup winner with Norths Devils last year and has now joined the Rhinos on a two-year deal.

Although he’s never made a first-grade appearance, he is touted to be a top player, and he recently told BBC West Yorkshire Sport: “I’ve had a lot of options with footy but there’s new criteria about younger fellas coming over to England and it kind of expands the teams and the comps we can look into playing.

“I thought coming over here and playing a lot more first grade than I would have been back home would be best for my footy at the moment.

“Hopefully, I can come over here and make a name for myself and develop a bit more.”

‘Leeds Rhinos is a massive club’ – Why recruit ‘jumped’ at move after tough two years

Our Coops 🤘🏻
Premiership winner and NRL State Champion Cooper Jenkins departs the Devils at season’s end to join the Leeds Rhinos.

Once a Devil, always a Devil. pic.twitter.com/zY5eZpKdal

— NorthsDevilsRLFC (@NorthsDevilsRL) October 10, 2024

Jenkins also explained the struggles he’s had in his short career saying: “I’ve missed two years of injury so I was at a funny point this year with my footy and having a good year so I just thought it’d be best for me coming over here.

“In 2022, I was 21 and had done an ACL and just looking at it now, it’s about 12 months off, it’s mentally tough. You just need to make sure you have a good support team around you.

“I have a really good family and a girlfriend and that helps you a lot but yeah, it’s definitely mentally tough.

“It is tough physically coming back because you’re never probably the same but I feel like going through them injuries makes you a lot more resilient and I feel like I’m in a better spot now than I would have been if I’d never done that injury.”

However, he seems to be excited at the prospect of playing for one of the UK’s biggest clubs, saying: “My family wanted me to jump at it, Leeds Rhinos is a massive club and as soon as we’d seen that, it was just something I wanted to jump at.”

He, alongside signings such as Maika Sivo and Ryan Hall, will surely be hoping to take the club back to the big time, after a number of seasons without silverware.