Brian McDermott heaps praise on Leeds duo
Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott said Jack Walker and Richie Myler were outstanding against Warrington Wolves last night.
The Rhinos led 12-6 at half-time thanks to tries from Jamie Jones Buchanan and Ryan Hall while Bryson Goodwin went over on his debut for the hosts.
England star Hall scored a marvellous breakaway try in the second half which extended Leeds’ advantage, before Tom Lineham pulled a late try back for the Wolves to create a nervy finish. Leeds managed to hold on for a 16-12 victory though.
And McDermott praised 18-year-old Walker, who won the man of the match award.
He said: “I thought he was great. He took some really difficult high balls albeit not under pressure but they still needed taking.
“He’s just got an understanding in his game where he needs to get to the ground on the kick return and some full-backs especially don’t have that – they’re all about side stepping people too much and get picked up and driven back.
“He got us on the front foot, especially in the first half, and for a young man to have that in his game, to do that – you have got to run to break tackles and he’s not the biggest of blokes, not the strongest just yet and he copped a few of them and that’s just his game.
“He seems to have time for himself and all the good players do. There will be moments this year when he crashes and burns – there’s no drama with that because that’s what happens. He’s got the personality to deal with it. He could be very good.”
The Rhinos boss was also impressed with Myler on his debut against former club Warrington.
McDermott said: “He was very good, I thought all three of our debuts (Myler, Brad Dwyer and Nathaniel Peteru) were good.
“Richie just had a little bit of cohesion and he looked cohesive.
“Some of our goal-line attack was good but we clearly need to be better as well. We had a lot of possession near Warrington’s try-line in the first half and didn’t come up with much which I’m disappointed with but our overall performance was good.”