It was another tough night at the office for Leeds Rhinos on Saturday as they were comfortably beaten 26-0 in the South of France by Catalans Dragons.
It wasn’t until the final quarter that a young Rhinos side finally caved as they stayed within eight points of the Dragons for much of the contest in Perpignan.
Leeds head coach Rohan Smith named a number of inexperienced players in his starting 17, with his hand forced by multiple injuries in his squad.
Alfie Edgell started on the wing, with Jack Sinfield at stand-off and Leon Ruan in the back-row. Between those three players there were just eight Super League appearances prior to kick-off.
Another player named on the bench with slightly more Super League experience was hooker Corey Johnson. The 23-year-old has been in the Rhinos first-team since 2019 and made 18 appearances last season.
Leeds Rhinos boss praises Corey Johnson’s attitude
Corey Johnson scores a try against Hull KR in 2023. Credit: Imago Images
This season has been a tough one for Johnson, with the signing of Andy Ackers pushing him further down the queue with Jarod O’Connor already ahead of him in the no.9 role. This has led to limited opportunities for Johnson.
Because of this, he has been linked with a move away. Having already had loan spells at Featherstone Rovers, York Knights and Bradford Bulls since 2019, Johnson was linked with a loan move to Halifax Panthers earlier this week.
Responding to those rumours in the week, Smith would not open up on whether Johnson would depart to the Panthers but did admit that he would speak about it when an announcement was made.
This made Johnson’s inclusion in the Rhinos 17 against Catalans a surprising one, with the hooker still on the edges of things at Leeds having already had a spell on loan Bradford earlier this season.
“I wanted to give Corey a couple of minutes at the back end there,” said Smith, who featured for the final moments in the defeat in Perpignan. “Corey has had a really tough time of late with an extended break because of concussion and a few other bits and pieces.
“I am really proud of the way Corey has stuck at it. He was on the bench to cover us in the backs if something went wrong, given the amount of personnel we’ve got missing in the outside-backs particularly.
“I was happy to give him a couple of minutes there to say ‘well done’ for applying himself over the last little period.”
Johnson won’t be going back to Bradford
Corey Johnson. Credit: Imago Images
Despite links to Halifax and Bradford still interested, Smith did field a question about the possibility of Johnson going back to Odsal in his post-match press conference.
However, the answer to that question was pretty conclusive from Smith, who has a reputation for being very coy about transfer rumours, insisting that Johnson “won’t be going back to Bradford”.
Whether that means he will be staying at Leeds or going on loan to another team, such as Halifax, remains to be seen but given the Rhinos injury problems, Johnson may fancy a shot at breaking into the first-team at Headingley.
Leeds next game is away to St Helens a week on Friday, with teams not in Challenge Cup action next week, such as the Rhinos, now having time to reset and potentially do some dealings in the transfer market as we enter the second third of the Super League season.
