'We want players hungry for the badge': Revitalised Leeds Tykes prioritise continuity on return to National One
WHEN they sat down to discuss what type of players they needed to continue the resurrection of Leeds Tykes, Pete Seabourne and the club’s hierarchy identified one simple ingredient.
It wasn’t experience. There was no interest, either, in filling the club with players accustomed to playing in National One, or for that matter, using their name to lure Championship cast-offs down a division.
What they wanted from their new recruits and the boys they were sticking with was one thing – hunger.
And so it is that at the Sycamores in Bramhope today they begin life back in the third tier with just half-a-dozen new faces and a core of players who have been in National One before, but go back there far better equipped to survive and thrive than they did three years ago.
“From the outset I was looking for players that are hungry,” says Seabourne, the Tykes’ director of rugby.
“I don’t want players that are coming for what they think will be an easy ride and making a few quid out of it. We want hungry players, players that want to play for the club, for the badge, for the history of where we’ve been, because we’re trying to get back there.”
Despite stepping up a division, and into a national league that brings more travel and demands, Leeds recruited only from the league they had just won, or below.
“Eddie Crossland and Sam Taylor from Otley, Will Yates from Hull Ionians,” lists Seabourne.
“Harry Preston was at Darlington Mowden Park, and then a couple of university students as well who we believe will add real value.”
It was university students who bailed Leeds out four years ago, with many of them still at the club.
Having been through the ringer in dropping down two divisions and nearly going out of business, the Covid pandemic almost forced the 2005 Powergen Cup winners into extinction.
But, with the help of Phil Davies, they rebuilt the playing squad from the local universities, and while it did not bear instant fruit, Seabourne believes the pick of that crop have ripened after two successful years in National Two North, when the narrative around this proud club started to turn for the better.
“Just because we haven’t brought in National One experience, it doesn’t mean we’re not experienced. Ninety per cent of the squad have played at National One level,” he explains. “It’s just that back then they weren’t ready for National One. We managed to stay up by the skin of our teeth, second year we got relegated.
“Most of our squad has been together for four or five years.
"They’ve got that National One experience, it’s just not been the best experience because they were younger, they weren’t ready, they weren’t physically tough enough, whereas now, having said we needed to come down to find our level and losing just four games across two seasons, I feel we’re in a really good spot.
“We’ve got that continuity, the players know how we play and the new players that have come in have fitted in really well.”
The biggest overhaul was conducted last season by Seabourne and his general manager Jake Brady – who has now departed to take on the rugby directorship at Harrogate.
Fifteen players were brought in to ensure Leeds didn’t run out of steam like they did in the 2023-24 season when being pipped at the post by Rotherham. They lost just once in winning the National Two North title. Rotherham, meanwhile, finished third in National One.
Can Leeds expect to carry similar momentum?
“We hope so,” says Seabourne. “The plan is to get out of National One and get into the Championship, but we aren’t living beyond our means. We’ve got a budget and we’re sticking to it.
“We need to stay up, that’s the first target. We’ll address that come Christmas once we’ve played everyone. If we’re in the top four, then we need to look at what we need to do to sustain that.
“If we are bottom, or if we’re in mid-table, we plan accordingly.”
The first three games bring a fond reminder of second-tier battles of yore, Plymouth and Sedgley Park at the Sycamores, with a trip to Clifton Lane to take on the Titans sandwiched in between.
“It’s exciting times for the club and where we need to be,” adds Seabourne. “As a sporting city we’ve got Leeds United back in the Premier League, there’s a buzz around the Rhinos, you’ve got an ice hockey team that has won a lot of trophies.
“We want to be on the back of that, and hopefully the rugby union and sporting Leeds public will come and have a look, see what we’re about.”