As a boy and man, Jamie Jones-Buchanan cried when his beloved Leeds lost - but now he wants to make sure there are only tears of joy.
The Rhinos legend unexpectedly goes into Saturday’s Betfred Challenge Cup sixth round tie against Castleford Tigers as interim head coach after beleaguered chief Richard Agar quit on Monday. Troubled Leeds lost five of their opening six Super League games with Agar - who enjoyed Wembley success in 2020 - fearing he had lost touch with misfiring players.
Ex-Great Britain second-row Jones-Buchanan, 40, won seven Grand Finals as part of Rhinos’ famed Golden Generation before becoming their assistant coach. It has been hard witnessing their pitiful start and he felt “pretty sick” with their recent pathetic loss against Hull.
But as one of rugby league’s most charismatic individuals, he is perfectly set to lift spirits.
“I’m a relationship person,” said Jones-Buchanan, a devout Christian with a love of amateur dramatics and charity work among other things.
“I love people. I’ve always been quite enthusiastic and optimistic and always see the greater good in everybody. And my biggest strength is empathy. I recognise when players haven’t quite got a smile on their face and believe I can often remedy that.
“I'm really excited about having the opportunity to cheer some people up. That’s an easy win. In the past in difficult times, there’s always been passion and emotion but that was missing against Hull. I had knots in my stomach. Thankfully we've got around the players this week and started to find that again.”
Jones-Buchanan lost four Challenge Cup finals before finally helping beat Castleford in 2014. He recalled: “I used to drive up that M1 in tears quite often! And as a fan, I’d be ruined for the week whenever Leeds lost.
"But the Challenge Cup has always been a big priority for this club. I just want our performance to be better than where it’s been. We find ourselves as the lowest scoring team in Super League. When you look at the roster and our DNA, we never want to be there. Ever.”
Jones-Buchanan will draw much of his coaching advice from Kevin Sinfield - “the best leader I ever had” - and hold the role as long as needed. Parramatta Eels assistant Ryan Carr remains favourite to take over.
“Collectively, it was a really heavy day Monday,” admitted Jones-Buchanan. “It was difficult for all of us to take. But Rich left lots of positives. There’s just some little nuances we need to fix.”
