Leeds Rhinos' Paul Momirovski talks 'outstanding' kids, honouring Rob Burrow and building on win v Leigh

The ex-Penrith Panthers centre hailed 19 year olds Alfie Edgell and Ned McCormack for their contribution when an injury-hit side honoured Rob Burrow with an 18-10 victory over Leigh Leopards last week. With three-quarters Harry Newman, Ash Handley, Luis Roberts, Riley Lumb, Max Simpson and Matty Russell all on the casualty list, McCormack came in for a full debut and Alfie Edgell made his eighth senior appearance.

They played together on the left with Edgell - a specialist full-back - on the wing and McCormack at centre. It was Rhinos’ first game at AMT Headingley since Burrow’s death three weeks earlier and Momirovski felt the new generation did the club legend proud.

“They were outstanding,” Momirovski enthused. “Those two boys, they did more than they needed to do. It just goes to show Leeds are producing some great young kids.

“I am very grateful they got the opportunity and got to experience something like that and put in the performances they did. They deserve it, they work hard. You see academies across the league producing players like that, it is going to be great for the game.”

Last week’s win came just two days after Rohan Smith stepped down as team boss. His assistants Chev Walker and Scott Grix took over on a caretaker basis and became the first Leeds coaches to win their debut game since Brian McDermott in 2011.

The club are now searching for a permanent replacement and Momirovski admitted the celebration of Burrow’s life and career overshadowed the first match without Rhinos’ former boss. “It was a bit different because of the emotion of [last week’s] game”, he said. “It was bigger than everything else going on, there was no feeling sorry for yourself. Celebrating Rob was the focus.”

Momirovski stressed: “It was definitely an emotional night. You could see how much he meant to this club and I was just grateful we could be a part of it and we could get the win and honour him in the right way.

“What Rob has done for this club and the city of Leeds and raising so much money for MND, I am very glad we put on the performance we did. It felt like we were doing a lot of defending, but we can be super-proud of what we did.”

With 12 games remaining, there’s still time for Rhinos to mount a push into the Betfred Super League play-offs, as they did two years ago when Smith guided them to a Grand Final appearance. Momirovski believes last week’s win and performance can be a springboard. There are no top-flight fixtures this weekend - because of England’s mid-season Test against France in Toulouse on Saturday - and Rhinos return to action at home to bottom side London Broncos on July 6. The Aussie predicted: “I think the week off will be good, to get some boys back from their injuries last week and to build on this.”