Rhyse Martin has become something of a cult hero at Leeds Rhinos since moving at the back end of 2019.
After settling in seamlessly, the forward has impressed with his goalkicking ability as well as his passion and determination on the field, but he has revealed – in The David Mead Podcast – just how bad he was struggling at the beginning of 2021.
“At the start of this year I had a poor start to this season, I was playing shit,” Martin said.
“There was a lot of pressure on me to perform and I had a lot of stress on me that I didn’t realise.
“Footy, home life and being in lockdown and not being able to do anything, I realised I was struggling, so I reached out to help and was brutally honest with myself.
“It’s one of the things I will look back on later on and be proud – I was open with how I was feeling.”
Martin also revealed that he sought help within the Leeds club.
“I was talking to my coach, our welfare manager and he helps with all mental health and he recommended me on to a sports psychologist.
“I caught up with him once a week to get things off my chest – there were no bad thoughts but there was pressure to perform.
“For me just to be able to reach out to someone really helped me.”
Martin signed a one-year contract extension to stay at Headingley in 2022, but he says he still needs to think about the future.
“Now I’ve gone past that and I’m confident about my game again so that’s one thing I want to promote – not recognising if you’re doing ok.
“It was great to get it off my chest and now I need to think about what to do next.”
