{"id":278001,"date":"2025-11-22T23:15:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/278001\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T23:15:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:15:13","slug":"leeds-rhinos-man-wants-starting-role-ahead-of-2026-as-brad-arthur-and-new-signings-discussed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/278001\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos man wants starting role ahead of 2026 as Brad Arthur and new signings discussed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos hooker, Jarrod O\u2019Connor, has confirmed that he wants to be the club\u2019s starting number nine next season, following the departure of Andy Ackers.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor, who made his Leeds debut in 2020, originally started out as a loose forward, before developing into a hooker during his time at Headingley.<\/p>\n

He has featured in the role for the past three seasons, and has been back-up to Ackers, as well as Kruise Leeming when he was still in Blue and Amber.<\/p>\n

Now, he wants to be the one in pole position, and with Ackers\u2019 injury problems last season, followed by his move to Bradford Bulls<\/a>, he has shown that he is able to have that responsibility going into next year.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an interview with club media<\/a>, O\u2019Connor, 24, commented on how good it is to be back in pre-season, and how this off-season is going to be one of his biggest yet.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Being back] is really enjoyable and we all get each other through, especially some of the big middles who find it a bit tough. We always help each other through, but it\u2019s been really enjoyable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year is pretty big, but I want to be the starting nine Obviously, squad numbers haven\u2019t been released or anything, but I\u2019m pushing for that [nine jersey] and hopefully a big pre-season will help towards that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As mentioned, O\u2019Connor played the most of 2025 as Leeds\u2019 first choice, and started in all but five of his 27 matches. The hooker topped the tackle count across the whole of Super League, and became the only player to make over 1,000 tackles throughout the campaign.<\/p>\n

Commenting on how he thought this year went, he thought overall it was a hugely positive one.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, really good. Obviously, a disappointing end to it, but like I said, that starting nine spot is what I want and obviously getting to finish the season, and have it for most of the year was really good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had some competition with [Andy] Ackers, we know how good he is. But yes, I\u2019m really happy with how it ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos man hails new signings and discusses Brad Arthur impact<\/p>\n

Leeds have brought in two new recruits, Ethan O\u2019Neill and Jeremiah Mata\u2019utia<\/a> from Leigh Leopards and the Queensland Cup respectively. According to the hooker, they have settled in incredibly well, even after just one week of training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve slotted in really well,\u201d said O\u2019Connor. \u201cObviously, they\u2019re some big bodies and Ethan, we saw what he could do last year at Leigh.<\/p>\n

\u201cJerry I\u2019m sure I read somewhere was 103kg, and then I asked him how big he was and he said he was 115kg, so I though I don\u2019t know where that\u2019s come from but yeah, he\u2019s massive and I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll add some punch to our pack.\u201d<\/p>\n

This season will be the second full campaign under head coach Brad Arthur, following his decision to stay at the club for another 12 months.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor believes that having Arthur as a coach is incredible, with his NRL experience showing in terms of the way his off-seasons are conducted.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe obviously already knew what Brad was all about and I think it probably helps coming in and knowing exactly what to expect in pre-season.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe makes it pretty obvious. You\u2019ve got you\u2019re job and you just have to nail your job. It\u2019s quite easy, but difficult at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the coaching staff are really helpful, and they make your plan, your job very precise\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos hooker, Jarrod O\u2019Connor, has confirmed that he wants to be the club\u2019s starting number nine next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-278001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}