Leeds Rhinos rookie Jack Broadbent has been told he needs to keep learning and developing if he is to work his way back into the team. The homegrown centre or full-back was left out of the side who drew 20-20 with Huddersfield Giants on Thursday, with back-rower Alex Mellor picked in the centres instead.
It followed the recent 26-0 home loss to Super League champions St Helens in which Broadbent featured. Yet interim head coach Jamie Jones-Buchanan is confident the highly-rated prospect will again prove his class as the season unfolds.
He said: “Jack needs to keep developing, he needs to keep growing. We’ve had a long history of really high-quality centres and Jack is a really good player. He’s got a great aptitude for learning and he had some amazing games last year. I just felt he’d been a tiny bit off the mark and off the standard that we’re playing at the minute.
“Just with where we’ve been, I felt we needed that bit of consistency and conservativeness and solidarity. Mells will give you that all day long and Harry Newman isn’t a million miles off. When he gets back, he will offer a great deal in there. Young Max Simpson put in a good performance for the Academy [against Wigan on Thursday night] and these are the messages we are giving to the young boys – to not give up and persevere.”
