YEP rugby league season review

YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on the 2023 season for Leeds Rhinos, Castleford Tigers, Wakefield Trinity and England.

Transcript

00:00 Here we are at the First Direct Arena in Leeds which is rather an unusual final venue for

00:06 the 2023 Rugby League season in England and it's been an up and down season for Leeds

00:13 Rhinos. I think the mood now is considerably better than it was when the season finished

00:19 six or seven weeks ago. Pre-season training starts tomorrow, that's the 6th of November

00:25 and there's been some good additions. The squad is looking pretty good for next season,

00:30 everyone's going to be excited to see how Andy Akers and Brodie Croft get on. I think

00:35 Lackey Miller is going to be a good signing from the NRL, probably still lack a big prop

00:41 but Leeds are working on sorting that out before the season begins. Castleford and Wakefield

00:46 obviously different fortunes for them this year. Castleford avoided relegation but they've

00:54 had their issues with the IMG grading, graded lower than Wakefield and they've clearly cut

00:59 their playing budget for next season. It'll be interesting to see how they get on. London

01:04 Broncos coming up I think may well have done Castleford a little bit of a favour. Castleford

01:09 will fancy the chance of finishing above London next season in the Super League. Wakefield

01:14 got a new coach in Darrell Powell, got a new owner in Matt Ellis and they will be pretty

01:19 confident of having a strong season in the Championship. They've got a good grading from

01:24 IMG. I think their stay outside the Super League is looking temporary at the moment.

01:30 A year ago you'd said if they go down then they'd be in trouble but they seem to be a

01:34 club on the up. The game as a whole obviously has got its problems but there's been some

01:42 positive developments this season. It was a very close, competitive Super League campaign

01:47 and at the end of it England's men had a good 3-0 Test Series whitewash of Tonga. I think

01:55 they can be satisfied with that and it gives them something to build on going ahead to

01:59 next year's Samoa Series and looking further ahead to the next World Cup in a few years'

02:06 time. So that's it for this season and we'll all be back in seven weeks' time on Boxing

02:13 Day, that heading for Rhinos vs Wakefield.

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