{"id":291420,"date":"2025-11-30T13:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291420\/"},"modified":"2025-11-30T13:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-30T13:08:11","slug":"former-leeds-rhinos-hooker-shaun-lunt-talks-future-coaching-ambitions-and-gives-predictions-for-leeds-and-hull-krs-2026-seasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/291420\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Leeds Rhinos hooker Shaun Lunt talks future coaching ambitions and gives predictions for Leeds and Hull KR’s 2026 seasons"},"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

Former Leeds Rhinos hooker, Shaun Lunt, believes there is no limit to what his former side can achieve next year, following on from a successful 2025 season.<\/p>\n

The Rhinos ended the season in fourth place, and secured their first home play-off game for the first time since 2017. They campaign was cut short, however, as a last gasp wonder try from St Helens\u2019 Shane Wright snatched the victory away from them, and they were sent crashing out of the competition wondering what could have been.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the difference in performances from Leeds last season compared to other years prior was night and day. Brad Arthur has been revolutionary in changing the side around, and with another NRL-level pre-season at the club, they will only improve even further under his tenue.<\/p>\n

Lunt, who won a Grand Final with Leeds in 2012 and has now returned to the club to become an academy assistant coach,<\/a> believes that Arthur should be hailed for his work, and has been the biggest factor in the club\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Serious About Rugby League about how he thinks Leeds will fare next year, he said:\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a seal and cap on to what Leeds can achieve next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Brad Arthur\u2019s come in, he\u2019s changed the way that Leeds dictate themselves, and they\u2019re a lot better team than what they were when he first came in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure with the additions, and he\u2019s only been there a short period of time so I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll wanting to be doing a lot more, I can imagine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a limit as to what they can achieve, they\u2019ve got all the right coaching staff around them, the right club, the right fans around them. He\u2019s building a really good platform for them to achieve success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another of Lunt\u2019s former teams, Hull KR enjoyed their best ever season in 2025, securing a historic treble in what has been a monumental payoff for work the club have put in on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

Like Leeds, the former hooker believes that the Robins\u2019 success won\u2019t be stopping any time soon, and he gave major credit to the club\u2019s owner, Neil Hudgell, for his work behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI think what Willie Peters has done is nothing short of remarkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone can argue with the success with what they\u2019ve been doing away from the club. What Neil [Hudgell]\u2019s done for the club, he\u2019s put so much of his heart and soul into that club and the building of the infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Robins have an eventful opening to the Super League season, with an away trip to York Knights kicking things off and a trip to Las Vegas where they will face the Rhinos.<\/p>\n

KR will also compete in the World Club Challenge against Brisbane Broncos, and will look to become the third British team in a row to win the event.<\/p>\n

Lunt knows what it\u2019s like to be in those huge match-ups, and he thinks the English outfit have a huge chance in that game, not only because it\u2019s held in Hull, but because his former club will get a chance for what is essentially a warm-up game a week prior.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019ve got a great chance,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, after the 3-0 Ashes defeat the Aussies will be thinking we don\u2019t have a chance, but it\u2019s a total different ball game is the World Club Challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve sort of got the upper hand because we get to play an extra game before, so we\u2019re already in that competitive game [mindset].<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an achievement for the record books it would be to Hull KR to win all four trophies in one year like Wigan did the other season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Leeds Rhinos hooker talks coaching ambitions after new role confirmed:<\/p>\n

As mentioned, Lunt<\/a> has now returned to Headingley to become an assistant coach in the academy. He will be working alongside Chev Walker in the role, as they look to continue the triumphs the side have had with the youth system both this year and in seasons gone by.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old was asked what his plans are for the future, and if he one day sees himself as a head coach, given his new venture. However, it\u2019s fair to say Lunt is quite content with what he\u2019s up to now.Want to be a coach:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest with you, I don\u2019t even know what I want to do tomorrow!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019m really enjoying my role at Mirfield, and I\u2019m really enjoying the job that I\u2019m doing now at at Elect [recruitment company who recently became a new sponsor at the Rhinos].<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this moment in time, my focus is just on developing kids. My role at Mirfield is Head of Youth, and my role at Leeds is academy assistant coach, so I love nothing more than developing kids and giving them the best chance they can to help them achieve what I achieved in rugby and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me , I just want to help Chev, and give these boys both at Leeds and Mirfield, the best possible place in life so they can play their best footy on the field.\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":"Former Leeds Rhinos hooker, Shaun Lunt, believes there is no limit to what his former side can achieve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291421,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-291420","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\/291420","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=291420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}