ABOVE: Rob Burrow has been surprised at how quickly 'his' youngsters have broken through
I wasn’t hoping they’d make it this quick because it makes me feel old.
Rob Burrow
ROB BURROW feels like a proud dad watching the kids he coached break into Leeds’ first team.
But the Rhinos star admits it makes him feel very old – and small – playing with the club’s three new giant wonder babes.
Burrow coaches Leeds’ Under-16s and two years ago knew he had some budding stars on his hands.
But even Burrow says he is shocked at how quickly Liam Sutcliffe, Thomas Minns and Jordan Baldwinson have come on.
All three 18-year-olds played in Monday’s 38-28 win over Widnes because of the Rhinos’ massive injury problems.
“After that they got signed on and were taken out of my hands, but I always knew they would make it.”
One of Burrow’s other kids, 18-year-old Mason Tonks, was 18th man on Monday, much to the delight of 5ft 5ins Burrow.
He added: “I was passing the ball between them all in training and I put the average age up by about 10 years. They are all over 6ft, so I have quite a way to look up when I’m telling them what to do.” Sutcliffe has played five games since making his debut last month, while Minns has the last two games to his credit, with Baldwinson debuting against the Vikings.
With Tonks on the fringes, Burrow believes it could be the start of another successful era for the champions.
Burrow was part of a golden generation of kids who broke through more than a decade ago and have stayed loyal to Leeds ever since.
That group includes Danny McGuire, Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Ryan Bailey.
And Burrow said: “The club see these lads as the next major batch. It’s similar to what happened around my time, so the future looks bright.”
No comments:
Post a Comment