As the curtain fell on the final youth matches of the 2025 season last weekend, Leeds Rhinos have enjoyed a stellar season across all four grades of it's Men's and Women's teams.

Out of 47 total games played across the Reserves, Under-19s and Under-18s Academy's, and Under-16s Scholarship, the Rhinos finished with 39 wins, seven losses and one draw, ensuring that the club's future is bright across all grades.

Here's a breakdown of all the key highlights and player performances over the season for our youth sides:

Men's Reserves

Leading the charge for the Rhinos in 2025 was the Reserves, who were crowned champions for the first time since the competition returned in 2022.

Led by Chev Walker, a side made up of a mixture of First Team and Under-18s talent joined part-time reserves players to win 12 out of 13 games over the course of the season - a best ever campaign for the club in the Reserves competition for the last four seasons.

Kicking off with a 30-22 win over Leigh Leopards away from home, the side won their first four games including impressive results ovr Huddersfield, St Helens and Bradford as they made a strong start to the competition. 

April's trip to Hull proved to be the only hurdle in the Reserves campaign as a late try from Oscar Brown wasn't enough to overcome an 18-16 defeat at the hands of the black and whites, but a run of eight straight wins to finish the year saw silverware arrive in Leeds.

Following the defeat to Hull, a resounding 60-26 win over Wigan Warriors was led by two tries from Ethan Clark-Wood, Harley Thomas and Presley Cassell, before Warrington, Wakefield, Hull KR, Salford, Castleford and Bradford were all beaten to secure Leeds' place at the top of the table and in the 2025 Grand Final.

Facing off against the Wolves in the finale at AMT Headingley, George Brown scored the game's only try in a tight arm-wrestle that evetually saw the Rhinos come out on top with an 8-0 final score.

Brown's try in the final sa the half back join Cassell as the side's top try scorer as the pair both recorded seven over the season whilst Jack Sinfield also impressed in six games as he finished with the most points and goals by a Rhinos player in the Reserves in 2025.

Sinfield was one of a number of first team players who put in strong shifts away from Brad Arthur's team alongside Ethan Clark-Wood, who finished with four tries, Ben Littlewood, Riley Lumb and Cooper Jenkins. Players also used the competition to earn an opportunity to stay with the club, including Oliver Smart who played in all 13 games and earned a new one-year deal to extend his stay at the club.

Women's Under-19s Academy

Ellis Pascall's Women's Under-19s Academy also enjoyed a top year as the next generation of Women's players showcased some of the names that Rhinos fans can look for to seeing in the Women's Super League in the future.

2025 saw the Under-19s play more matches than ever before in a single season, plus six games were played as double header events alongside the first team which included appearances at AMT Headingley, Totally Wicked Stadium, LNER Community Stadium and Robin Park Arena. 

The Rhinos made a quick start to their campaign, winning their first four games before a bye round in June. St Helens and York were both defeated away from home, before Leeds returned to home soil to beat Wigan and Warrington - the latter saw six tries from Lill Seal lead the scoring in a 74-4 result.

A Trinity Gallagher hat trick overcame Featherstone Rovers in another huge win at the end of June, plus St Helens and Wigan were beaten again either side of a 20-6 loss at home to Huddersfield.

After a second bye week in August, the side had mixed results in their final four games as wins over Featherstone and Warrington were counteracted by losses at the hands of the Giants and York Valkyrie as they finished the season with a total of ten wins and three losses.

Half back Seal enjoyed a stellar season as she scored ten tries and 20 goals in five appearances, followed by Gallager and Honey Smith who scored eight tries each. Imogen Hallas was also a top performer with seven tries and 16 goals in another great personal season, whilst Player of the Year Amelia Hirst was one of four players to feature in every game this year.

Men's Under-18s Academy

A second Grand Final appearance in 2025 went to the Rhinos Under-18s, who returned to the finale after a great season under head coach Chev Walker.

Having not made the top four for the last two seasons since winning the competition in 2022, this season proved different as the next generation fo talent began to bloom across an exciting season.

The Academy made the best start to 2025 out of any of the club's Youth sides as they won eight consecutive games to go top of the Academy league table. A hard faught 24-4 win over Wigan Warriors set the tone for what was to come as Walker's side began to hit top form as they saw off Castleford, Huddersfield, Bradford twice, Salford and Wakefield with a total of 366 points scored and only 44 conceded.

They also added a 38-0 result over St Helens in July before a matchup against Warrington Wolves, who had matched the Rhinos unbeaten record with three games to go in the season. A late drop goal from Junior Westwood proved the difference at Victoria Park as the Rhinos suffered a 19-18 defeat, but it made for a good preview ahead of their Grand Final dance two months later. Leeds bounced back from their defeat to see off Leigh, Hull KR and Hull FC as they made sure they went into the semi finals, where they met St Helens.

Despite a nervous final ten minutes, a tight contest saw Leeds have the result locked up thanks to tries from Oscar Brown, Marcus Qareqare, Dacx Jones-Buchanan and Daniel Stelfox as the Rhinos returned to the final. Facing off against the Wolves for a second time in the season, a disappointing performance saw Warrington come away as 32-18 victors, but it didn't take away from what has been an outstanding year for the young Rhinos.

Amongst the top performers for the Under-18s, Oscar Brown's move the the centres saw him finish the year with 15 tries, which included five scores in the 80-0 win over Bradford in May. Zak Lloyd, Wade White and Jacob Hardy also cemented themselves as players to watch out for after the trio were part of an impressive group of first year Academy players who made a comfortable step up from the Scholarship in 2024. 

Men's Under-16s Scholarship

The Under-16s Scholarship enjoyed a largely successful season on the field with six wins in eight games. 

Mark Butterill's side made a fast start to the campaign with a 42-22 win over Hull FC, a 52-18 win over Bradford and a 66-0 triumph against Leigh but couldn't defend a second half comeback from Huddersfield as the Giants won 24-16 at AMT Headingley.

A seven try performance against Wakefield was led by a Bailey Hardy hat trick as the Rhinos got back to winning ways, but their run stalled as a late Wade Smith try was required to draw 18-all with Wigan in June. Nevertheless, wins over Castleford and St Helens closed out another successful year for the Scholarship.

This year's success was recognised when a record 12 players agreed their first professional deals to move into the Academy for 2026 - Bailey Hardy, Sonny Hetherington, Ryan Hosier, Connor Lawrie, Noah Lunn, Seth Marchant, Jack Mears, Sam Oldroyd, Daniel Shaw, Jack Smith, Robin Smith, Alfie Steel, Jacob Tooala, Brennan Townend and Liam Watson all agreed new deals to stay with the club.

Hetherington was a particular standout as he scored nine tries over the course of the season, plus Jacob Tooala will be one to watch in 2026 after his season was ended prematurely through injury.