Luke Briscoe and Brian McDermott speak about facing Leeds Rhinos for the first time as Featherstone Rovers men

Featherstone Rovers and Leeds Rhinos will go head to head in a pre-season friendly on the 16th of January, which will mark new Rovers boss Brian McDermott’s first game in charge.

It will also be the first time that McDermott will have faced former club Leeds in his new role, having previously coached the Toronto Wolfpack against the Rhinos in 2020.

The former Leeds Rhinos head coach, who won multiple Grand Final and Challenge Cup titles in his time at Headingley, had been part of the Oldham set-up since June of this year, working with head coach Brendan Sheridan.

However, McDermott left in September and was then appointed as Featherstone boss and he is looking forward to trying to inspire victory against the Rhinos.

“I’m looking forward to it, we’ve been preparing well through the off season, and it’ll be interesting to see how we fair against a team of Leeds’s calibre,” McDermott told the Featherstone website.

“I’m looking at combinations and how they fair, we’ll be looking at implementing some of the game management strategies that we’ve worked on but ultimately I’m excited for my first game as Featherstone’s Head Coach.”

Former Leeds winger Luke Briscoe will also be in the Rovers side after making the off-season move.

“I’m really looking forward to it, it’ll be a good test for us as a squad and obviously there’s something special about playing against your former club in the first game.

“But, mainly I’m looking forward to stepping back out on that field as a Featherstone player and picking up where I left off last time I was here.”