Leeds Richie Myler raring to go against Red Devils after COVID enforced break

Leeds Rhinos’ Richie Myler says that he has fond memories of his time at Salford, but will be ready for action this weekend at the AJ Bell Stadium. He and his teammates finally end their long-enforced break due to a Coronavirus outbreak at the club.

Myler played for the Red Devils between 2008 and 2009, back when they were known as ‘Salford City Reds’. During his time at the club, he won the National League – now known as the Championship – and subsequently the Grand Final to earn promotion as well as lifting the Northern Rail Cup.

In the process, he became one of the most spoken about youngsters in the game and ultimately earned himself a move to Warrington Wolves worth approximately £200,000, making him the most expensive teenage signing in Rugby League history at the time.

Speaking to Prost International in the build-up to Sunday’s trip to Salford with Leeds, the fullback looked back with fondness and praised Richard Marshall’s current pack, but acknowledged that a lot has changed in the years since his departure in 2009.

“Salford is where I started. I was at Widnes in my junior academy days and played a couple of games for them, but Salford is technically where I actually got my first crack at it and played in the Championship division. I played 33 games for them that season [2008] and we won everything really, so it was pretty special. It was a good introduction to Rugby League, and I’ve got very fond memories of my time there. I always loved playing for them, it was a good start to my career.

“Doc Baxter is still there, the club doctor, and I see him whenever we play Salford, but they’ve had such a turnover of personnel that even the board and the directors have changed completely. It’s a completely different club now – a name change, a stadium change, there’s not much left from when I was there.

“Richard Marshall is a great coach, I was at Warrington with him. He’s a very meticulous planning coach so I believe they’re a good team. They’ve had a couple of injuries that have hampered them a fair. They’ve got a good forward pack and they’re dangerous, so we know that it’s going be a tough game, especially with them coming off the back of a win against Huddersfield Giants.”

For Leeds, by the time that Sunday’s clash comes around, it will have been 30 days since they last took to the field in a 6-60 victory away at fellow Yorkshire side Castleford Tigers.

Since then, the Rhinos have felt the full force of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, suffering cases within the squad, having their training ground shut down and seeing games postponed as a result of the positive tests.

England international Myler, fortunately, didn’t contract the virus but says that the time off has been frustrating and that the Rhinos’ squad now just can’t wait to get back onto the field.

“It’s been a really frustrating time for everyone involved. We were trying to kick on and had some good momentum after the Castleford game but unfortunately, that didn’t happen due to COVID, it’s been a stop-start annoying period of time.

“The lads that tested positive and the lads that were identified [as close contacts to them]by track and trace all had to isolate. I was fine, I escaped the bullet – maybe because I’ve been vaccinated, I’m not sure – but my day-to-day stuff was still limited though because we were told to not be doing too much.

“We’re all just itching to play again. We trained yesterday [Wednesday – June 23] for the first time in ten days because we’ve not been allowed into the training ground. With not being able to train, your day is all out of sync and not knowing when a game was going to come was quite frustrating.

“Now, we’ll play Sunday, Thursday, Monday, Friday. That’s an awful lot of games in a short period of time but they’re the cards that we’ve been dealt, and we’ll just have to be adaptable, be able to pick ourselves back up and be able to go again several days after [each game].

“Last year we ended up having to play something like 5 games in 14 days, it was crazy, but I think being able to have a squad that is adaptable and is able to take on a whole different challenge is good. Normally Rugby League is just playing week in week out, but now, the games are quicker and they’re coming round faster, so it’s even more taxing on your body.”

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