Jamie Jones-Buchanan pays tribute to Gary Hetherington

Leeds Rhinos legendary player and future CEO Jamie Jones-Buchanan paid tribute to Gary Hetherington in Saturday's edition of Blue & Amber.

Gary Hetherington, the Chief Gardener in the fertile flowerbed of opportunity at AMT Headingley. I know it is abstract language, it’s the way I think and the picture I see when I think of Gary and the environment he cultivated in the best part of near three decades.

I grew up in the South Stand watching Leeds RL, my beloved Loiners. I was inspired and entertained weekly by the heroic gladiators who represented my home city. By the time my dreams had started to come true and I had signed for Gary’s newly acquired Rugby League club, the crest and name on my first batch of training kit had morphed from the traditional Leeds RL crest into the ‘Rhinos’ brand we know and love today.

The seed had sprouted, the journey had started and the fruits of that Golden era became some of the finest years in the club’s history.

Gary had four objectives:

A team the city could be proud of

A team that produced role models and influenced lives on the platform of sport

A club that was sustainable

An upgraded facility that could be used by the club and local community as the eclectic piazza it is today.

In a subjective world I often reserve my opinion in favour of understanding others. On this occasion however I will say Gary Hetherington achieved all his objectives with profound distinction.

In the words of Kevin Sinfield, there isn’t much we can’t achieve or overcome when we are committed to doing it together. A fitting truth when highlighting the wingmen to Gary’s right and left, Chairman and prolific Businessman Paul Caddick and the greatest cultural architect I have ever known Kevin Sinfield.  Gary wove them like a three stranded rope of unwavering strength, the result being a timeline that brought success after success.

How fortunate am I to have been born at this time; to have been intrinsically woven into the fabric of DNA carefully entwined into the storytelling fanfare, in front of the 19,500 seats inside the story telling colosseum of AMT Headingley.

Youth, high performance, courage and above all ‘love’ being the key words that underpin the clues left for us to understand where success is found.

Gary taught us also that winning is king. We can’t replace Gary but we can preserve the strength of legacy he leaves behind and use it to tackle the challenges and opportunities presented to us in 2026 and beyond.

On behalf of everyone associated with the Rhinos, thank you Gary.