An exciting round of fixtures in the penultimate week of the Under-18s Academy season sees Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves go head to head at Victoria Park, kick off 1pm, in a hotly anticipated matchup between the two clubs.

With a place in the top four at stake, Tony Smith's Leeds side knows that a win would put them in a strong position to finish fourth ahead of Hull FC and Castleford Tigers. A result for the Wolves though sees them cement third place.

Loose forward Presley Cassell has led the young Rhinos through the entire season in the pack and ahead of a duel with the Wolves, he backs his team mates to perform on the road.

"It's an exciting challenge," he said. "I know we've been building and looking forward to this game for a while now, but I feel like we're in good form. We've won quite a few games up until now and on Saturday, we want to go there and make a statement, get that play-off place and come away with a win."

"I think we've definitely improved over the season. It was a bit of a rough start when we didn't win those games, but we've put in the work around the training facility. I think that's helped with taking our game onto the pitch, where we've been able to get results and trust each other. We've listened to the messages that Casper has given us, we've remained calm and because we know that we can do this, we're putting everything into it. It's just time to go and show that side of it."

Rhinos journey so far...

It's been a rollercoaster year for Cassell in his first year as an Under-18s player. Alongside being a mainstay of the Academy forward pack, he has also picked up England honours and signed a new five-year contract that will keep him at AMT Headingley until at least the end of the 2028 season. 

Looking back on his journey so far with the Rhinos, he said that although it's been a journey from joining the club's Scholarship, he still has plenty of development still to do before making the first team. He said: "It's been a good journey but there's a lot more to come. There's a lot of hard work going into my development from myself and my teammates that allows me to grow under the coaches that I've had. I've definitely come along as a player, but I still think there's loads more to go.

"The Scholarship really goes under the radar, it's a great first introduction to professional rugby. It helps getting used to the professional environment as best we can. Then when you take that next step to the academy, you've already got a base layer that Casper and the other coaching staff just excel further. They take you to that next level and when you go higher up, you're going to get to even further levels, so it's really beneficial."

Reserves game time

His development took another step last weekend when he got the opportunity to play Reserves too, where he scored two tries in defeat to Wigan. It was his third appearance in the competition this year, after coming off the bench against London and Hull FC earlier in the campaign.

"I remember at the start of the season we had a discussion and the coaches said that I wouldn't really play much reserves," he said. "My debut actually came sooner than I expected so I was happy but also a bit shocked. Just playing a few Reserve games, it's really helped in my growth and development. It gets the younger lads used to the bigger, older lads, which is that next step up. I'm lucky I've got team mates and coaches around me willing to help and I'm looking forward to more opportunities."

This week's opponents

Coming back to this week's opposition, the Wolves come into the game high on confidence after a convincing away win against Castleford. The side have produced seven wins this season, and have only suffered defeat against the top two sides in the competition, Wigan and St Helens.

Cassell had the opportunity to play alongside some of the Wolves players a part of the England Academy team earlier in the year, so he knows the threats posed by the likes of Aaron Lindop, Cai Taylor-Wray and Tom McKinney. "Warrington have had a pretty good year as well as us, I think every outfit of Warrington's is always tough. 

"They've got some really good players, and the lads that I've played with in England are good lads for one, but they also work hard. I know they want the win as much as us, but it's going to be a good game. If we bring what we've got as a team, there's going to be no stopping us."

The Rhinos take on the Wolves in their second to last Academy game of the season, before they finish the season with an away trip against Bradford Bulls at Odsal on Thursday 29th August.