Debut: vs Bradford Bulls (A) 9th February 2002

Rhinos Appearances: 149 (60 starts, 89 subs)

Rhinos Tries: 51

Leeds Honours: Grand Final (Winner 2004; Finalist 2005); Challenge Cup (Finalist 2003, 2005); World Club (Winner 2005); League Leaders' Shield (Winner 2004)

Willie Poching will go down as one of the Rhinos’ best recruits in the Super League era after a strong four years in blue and amber.

Starting his playing career in Australia with Marist Saints and Mount Albert Lions, Poching made the step up to Premiership level with Auckland Warriors. He later made a handful of appearances for North Queenland Cowboys, Hunter Mariners and St George Dragons over the space of three years before he made the move to the UK to join Wakefield.

In the Super League competition, he made almost 70 appearances in red, white and blue and quickly became a fan favourite. He also attracted interest from the Rhinos and announced his move to the club for 2002, prompting Wakefield to give the forward the captaincy in his final season.

Rhinos fans were equally as receptive to Poching during the four years he wore blue and amber and was importantly part of the squad that started the club's golden generation. He came off the bench in the 2004 Grand Final win over Bradford as well as the 2005 World Club Challenge win over Canterbury Bulldogs; a game in which he scored a try. Unfortunately, a knee injury brought a premature end to Poching's playing career as he retired at the conclusion of the 2006 campaign.

He moved straight into the backroom staff at the Rhinos and headed up the academy but in 2010, he started his first assistant coach role under Tony Smith at Warrington. Around that time too, he became Samoa's head coach too. He also held the assistant coach role at Salford Red Devils in 2017 before reuniting with Smith at Hull KR in 2018. He returned to Wakefield in 2020 under Chris Chester and succeeded him to take the head coaching role in 2021.