Leeds Rhinos are set to give 18-year-old back row Carl Ablett his Super League debut this Sunday for their trip to London Broncos.
Leeds Rhinos are set to give 18-year-old back row Carl Ablett his Super League debut this Sunday for their trip to London Broncos. Ablett will also become the 100th player to represent Leeds in the Super League era since 1996 and remarkably he will also be the 40th player to have come through the Rhinos highly successful Academy system in those 100 players. Ablett starred for the Rhinos Junior Academy for the past two seasons, winning two Grand Finals, and has impressed coach Tony Smith this season with his form in the Senior Academy. He signed for the Rhinos three seasons ago from local amateur club Middleton Marauders and represented England Academy in the win over the Australian Institute of Sport last year. He is also in the train on squad for the upcoming tour to New Zealand and Australia at the end of the July. Commenting on his selection Tony Smith said, "He is yet another exciting young up and coming player at our club and we are delighted to be able to give him his chance this week. He has consistently performed well in the Under 21's this season and I know he is more than capable of handling the step up to Super League level and I am sure he is ready for it." Ablett has been awarded the squad number 30 and has trained with the Rhinos first team squad all this week, he will be amongst the substitutes for Sunday's clash at Griffin Park with the rest of the team confirmed tomorrow. The 100 players who have represented Leeds in the Super League era range from Francis Cummins who has made 211 starts and 10 substitute appearances to Jon Hepworth, who appeared for the final four minutes of last years game at London. Only Francis Cummins and Barrie McDermott have been with the Rhinos for the entire summer era.