{"id":29851,"date":"2025-07-29T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-29T11:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/29851\/"},"modified":"2025-07-29T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T11:35:09","slug":"ex-rugby-union-player-targets-leigh-leopards-deal-total-rugby-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/29851\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-rugby union player targets Leigh Leopards deal \u2013 Total Rugby League"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>                                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.totalrl.com\/ex-rugby-union-player-targets-leigh-leopards-deal\/\" title=\"Permanent Link to Ex-rugby union player targets Leigh Leopards deal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img width=\"675\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P-07-HarryMills-675x360.jpg\" class=\"bestwp-post-thumbnail-single wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>HARRY MILLS has designs on a first-team outing for Leigh Leopards as he aims to become the latest of the new crop of players to tread the once well-worn path from rugby union to League.<\/p>\n<p>While the drift from the 15-a-side code seemed to have dried up over the years, winger Christian Wade joined Wigan Warriors from Gloucester this year and has pushed his way into Matt Peet\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n<p>And ex-England Sevens threequarter Alfie Johnson signed for Warrington Wolves over the close-season and impressed on loan at Championship side Halifax Panthers.<\/p>\n<p>Second rower Mills, 19, spent time in the Academy systems of both Gloucester and Bristol Bears.<\/p>\n<p>But his father Aaron is a keen Rugby League fan, so he grew up watching the 13-a-side code and always felt it would suit him.<\/p>\n<p>Run-outs for Gloucestershire All Golds and their successors Bristol All Golds reinforced that view, and after a spell with Warrington, he has been playing for Leigh Reserves under the guidance of experienced coach Stuart Littler.<\/p>\n<p>Now Mills has plans to move from Gloucester to the town and hopefully swap motorway miles for a Leopards contract.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStuart has been great with me and I feel I\u2019m coming on under his coaching,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a change from union, but I always thought the pace and physicality of Rugby League would suit me.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a taste of it with the All Golds and, while this level is a step up, I\u2019m enjoying learning from both training and playing in matches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHopefully I will keep developing, and like any young player, I want to get to as high a level as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leigh relaunched a second team in 2024 amid a beefed-up development system, and coach Adrian Lam said: \u201cI\u2019m a big fan and supporter of Reserve-grade rugby.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is the best way of developing and growing, and it gives the opportunity to shine and stake a claim for inclusion in the first-grade squad.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRY MILLS has designs on a first-team outing for Leigh Leopards as he aims to become the latest&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-29851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}