Jack Walker: Leeds Rhinos full-back to continue comeback in Super League showdown at Wigan Warriors

The 22-year-old full-back made his first competitive appearance since November 1, 2020 when Leeds Rhinos opened their campaign against Warrington Wolves six days ago.

He had come through two warm-up games unscathed and played the full 80 minutes of Rhinos’ 22-20 defeat.

Walker was satisfied with his own performance, but admitted there are pieces he still needs to slot into place before he gets back to the level he was at 24 months ago, when he suffered the foot injury which plagued him for two seasons.

He is set to continue at full-back when Rhinos visit Wigan Warriors tonight and will be looking to build on last week’s comeback.

“I got through with no injuries, so that’s good,” Walker said.

“The day after, I wasn’t as sore as I thought I would be.

“My upper body was the standard soreness, but my legs were all right.

“I think I had the second-most metres, other than Kruise [Leeming], so it’s not like I have been out that long and I am not fit enough to be in the side.

“I am physically fit and ready to go.

“I really enjoyed it and hopefully I can have another good performance this week.”

There were few signs of ring rust from Walker, who slotted straight back into his specialist role, but he admitted it wasn’t quite that simple.

“It’s getting used to the speed of the game again,” he said.

“I thought that was the toughest part of it, really.

“I thought my skill and the pressure of catching the high ball, stuff like that, came naturally.

“It was just the fitness side of it - I was blowing, to be fair, especially when we went two men down in the first half.

“But it’s a great way to come back; the extra work is only going to benefit me in the long run with the game fitness and the speed of it.

“I thought it was pretty good, it was just a solid performance really.

“I didn’t do anything special, just did what I needed to do.”

Only seven of the side Walker lined up with last week played in the final game before his layoff, a 20-18 win at Wakefield Trinity.

That was Leeds’ last game of the 2020 regular season and there has been a change of personnel, on the field and behind the scenes, since then.

He reflected: “It’s just building the jigsaw puzzle really.

“There’s still a few pieces I need to put into my game to get the final picture, but I thought I went well.

“I have not really played with this team, it is like a brand new team and I’m learning what people do and how people go about things.

“It is just one of those things that’s going to take a little bit of time I think.”

Tonight will be Rhinos’ third visit to DW Stadium in nine competitive matches, following a 14-0 regular season win there last August and 8-0 victory the following month, in an elimination play-off.

The Warriors began their campaign with a 24-10 victory at Hull KR last week and Walker warned: “Wigan is always one of those tough places to go and get a win.”

He said: “We are expecting a tough game, but still really excited.

“We have got some quality players; it will be tough, but with the players we’ve got, I don’t see why we can’t go there and get a win.”

Rhinos could not have given much more against Warrington, having played for 64 minutes with 12 men and been two down for a spell either side of the interval.

They led until the final seven minutes and Warrington’s late winner was a sickening blow, but Walker reckons the performance has given Rhinos something to build on.

“It was a tough one to take,” he conceded. “But I think everyone has got over it, we licked our wounds over the weekend and now we’re focused on this one.

“We have put that behind us and we can only build on that performance and learn from what we did wrong. If we keep that willingness all season and we’ve got each other’s back, it will take us a long way. We will fix up a few things and build on them every week.”

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