{"id":330627,"date":"2025-12-22T23:41:05","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T23:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/330627\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T23:41:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T23:41:05","slug":"morgan-gannon-explains-leeds-rhinos-exit-as-state-of-origin-teammate-heaps-his-praises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/330627\/","title":{"rendered":"Morgan Gannon explains Leeds Rhinos exit as State of Origin teammate heaps his praises"},"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

Recently-departed Leeds Rhinos forward, Morgan Gannon, is preparing for the biggest season of his career, as he enters the first of a three-year deal at NRL side New Zealand Warriors.<\/p>\n

Gannon announced he would be leaving Leeds Rhinos at the end of the season in April, and departed Headingley with 73 appearances under his belt and a call-up to the wider England squad in mid-season.<\/p>\n

Linking up with former boss Richard Agar at the club, the 21-year-old is settling in well with his new side, with NRL veteran Mitch Barnett giving a glowing report of his new teammate.<\/p>\n

Speaking in a pre-season video posted on the Warriors\u2019 YouTube Channel<\/a>, Barnett was asked about Gannon\u2019s arrival and his impact, with the State of Origin representative having nothing but praise for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig Morgz coming over from England. For the club going forward, people don\u2019t realise how young he is,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s 21 or something, and coming out here, it\u2019s going to take some time getting used to how we\u2019re going, but he\u2019s ticking all the right boxes straight away.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got some skill, strong, fast, and fit for a big, mobile guy. I just think for him, it\u2019s about finding his feet. His role will vary and change, but he\u2019ll progress over his time here.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could be that guy who plays 80 minutes in the middle for us, or edge middle, where he can float in between. He\u2019s a great fella, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Morgan Gannon explains Leeds Rhinos exit<\/p>\n

In a move that saddened Rhinos fans, but one they respected, Gannon has explained the reason for his departure, revealing that the switch down under was something he just simply couldn\u2019t pass up on.<\/p>\n

In the same video, the ex-Leeds star explained: \u201cIt was a decision of do I stay in my comfort zone or do I take a shot in the dark and test myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, ultimately, that was what I wanted to do and I\u2019m not regretting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explaining to his new fanbase who he is as a player, he continued: \u201cI\u2019m a second rower, I like to pride myself on defence. Defensively, that comes first. I think I\u2019m a hard worker. There\u2019s a saying, there\u2019s tough, then there\u2019s English tough, so I like to think I\u2019m part of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to be a person that teammates what to play with an my teammates respect and always want them by their side.\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":"Recently-departed Leeds Rhinos forward, Morgan Gannon, is preparing for the biggest season of his career, as he enters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-330627","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\/330627","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=330627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}