
Leeds Rhinos’ Morgan Gannon has Ash Handley’s testimonial firmly in his crosshairs as he aims to make his first appearance in almost a year. Gannon was stood down for the entirety of last season after picking up successive concussions during the Rhinos’ pre-season campaign.
It came as a huge blow for the 21-year-old, who had no doubt hoped to be able to kick on last year, but he has used his time away from the field productively. Over the last 12 months, Gannon has managed to fill out, build muscle mass and put five kilos on in the process before going full speed ahead into the 2025 season under Brad Arthur.
As such, Gannon had hoped to be involved in the Boxing Day win over Wakefield Trinity last month only for a small Achilles injury set the second-rower back slightly. However, he now has the January 26 circled on the calendar as a potential return date, when Leeds host Wigan Warriors at Headingley.
“I just had a little partial tear in my Achilles, so it wasn’t too bad,” the Leeds Rhinos man told the BBC when asked why he didn’t feature against Wakefield. “It was like a six week thing but I’m fully back from that now, I’ve been in over Christmas and the New Year and started full-team training again on Monday so I’m signed off from that and back in the mix with training.
“It was really frustrating, I had my eye on the Boxing Day game coming into pre-season because we only had six weeks, but it was about three weeks into pre-season that I kept getting a niggle. It got a bit worse, we got it scanned and yeah, a little partial tear but it was only a little bump in the road, I wasn’t too stressed about it but I’m glad I’m back fit now.
On Handley’s testimonial, he added: “That’s the next game, I’m hoping to get a run out in that and get a game on the board and see where I’m at. I’ve not played for just short of a year so it will be interesting to see where I’m at and I feel like I’m in a good position for that so I’m excited for that game.
“It’s weird, putting the shirt on today (for media day) was the first time I’ve put a shirt on since I last played. It’s probably the longest time since I started playing rugby at four years old that I’ve not played.
“It’s a bit weird and I don’t know how I’ll feel. I’m sort of feeling good, I’m not stressed about my concussion history or anything like that, I feel fit, strong and I’m in the best position to play rugby.”
