"He just had something about him." It's the first comment made by two of the coaches that have been key to the rise of Luke Hooley.
Anyone who has seen him recently will testify that is certainly correct. Playing for Batley Bulldogs, the full-back has set the competition alight with a string of excellent performances which have not gone unnoticed by coaches across the division, as well as the one above.
John Bastian first set his sights on Hooley when he was at Bradford Bulls and the youngster a mere teenager playing for Dewsbury Moor.
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"I watched Luke in a final at Batley, I think it was a Heavy Woollen Cup game," Bastian recalls. "I thought he had some talent. He was a good athlete, he showed some lovely touches as a rugby player and looked like a player who could grow into his potential.
"It will have been under 17s rugby, I think he was 16. He was playing for Yorkshire under 17s at the time I believe. I remember that game well, he was good. We invited him to have a chat with us, his mum and dad were good people, very supportive parents.
"He was just a rangy kid at the time but he was good, and we gave him an opportunity to have a trial with our academy. One of the first things we noticed was that he was a good trainer, it was different for him at Bradford, a different intensity, and he adapted well. He had a good pre-season, we were happy with how he was going.
"He had a couple of academy games, did well and we gave him a contract. That was the start of Luke's journey."
Bastian was confident, even with Hooley still 16 at the time, that he had a bright talent on his hands, it was just a case of getting him to believe it. At the time, the area of improvement for Luke was belief in his own ability and building some self-confidence.
"He would sometimes beat himself up too much if something didn't go right on the field. We used to hammer him about it, reinforced and told him to keep his head up and have another crack at it. The coaching staff were on board and eventually we started to see a different player, a different person, but it took some time.
"We talked a fair bit about that. Sometimes, the only conversation you need is the simple one for anybody's development. It's not a case of reinventing the wheel, he just needed to believe how good he was. I hope we initiated that change in him, he's obviously grabbed hold of that now. But he had everything else, good parents, really supportive parents, and he was good to have around."
Much to Bastian's disappointment, he didn't get to oversee a key period of his development.
"Sadly the club went into administration and he was one of several players who went to another club. He was a loss, as a bloke and as a player."
Hooley would move on to Wakefield, arriving at the Super League club in March of 2017. By the end of the season he had signed a professional contract with the club, the first of his career. After impressing in the club's Academy he was sent out on loan to Oldham and Dewsbury and while he impressed, a breakthrough in the Wakefield side never materialised. As a result, he eventually joined Batley Bulldogs for the 2020 season.
"He just had something about him," Batley head coach Craig Lingard said. "We did some research, I spoke to a few of his ex-coaches including some who had worked with him as a junior and they all rated him really highly.
"I spoke to Mark Applegarth at Wakefield and he was really disappointed that Wakefield let him go as he thought he was a Super League player of the future and I think he could be right based on what we've seen so far. It's where Super League clubs are now, they won't keep them on if they don't see them playing straight away.
"He's got that little bit about him where he can play as a halfback as well. From a full-back I wanted someone who could run but play as a third pivot too, that's just how I want my teams to play. He'd not had much first-team rugby, he'd been out on loan at Oldham but not really used too much, so we brought him in, had a look at him and we were really impressed.
"He played every game for us in the curtailed 2020 season, five at fullback and one at halfback and he grew in confidence. He's still only a young kid so he's put a bit of weight on and his attitude is first class, he's always looking to learn and get better."
Bastian believes he has the credentials to go right to the top as he continues to shine with the Bulldogs. "I'm delighted he's doing well, under Craig Lingard he's doing particularly well.
"He was always a good trainer, a good bloke to have around the place and the more you built his confidence the better he got. For Luke, he always had the ability to play at the top level, he was always a good enough athlete to be in Super League and there's no reason he can't do that. He's just gone on a different pathway.
"The Championship develops a lot of players. For Luke, I'm sure he'll agree with me, it was his self-belief. I'll credit him for building that and Batley too, as well as the players around him. They've done a great job over there with him."
This is a republished article from July 2nd, 2021. John Bastian was not employed by Leeds Rhinos at the time of the interview.
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