Leeds Rhinos coach Lois Forsell on how her players are adapting to lockdown

THE rug was pulled from under Women’s Super League just as months of hard work were about to come to fruition.
WINNING FEELING:  Leeds Rhinos trio Caitlin Beevers, Courtney Hill, captain and Lois Forsell, club captain celebrate winning the Grand Final in 2019.WINNING FEELING:  Leeds Rhinos trio Caitlin Beevers, Courtney Hill, captain and Lois Forsell, club captain celebrate winning the Grand Final in 2019.
WINNING FEELING: Leeds Rhinos trio Caitlin Beevers, Courtney Hill, captain and Lois Forsell, club captain celebrate winning the Grand Final in 2019.

The competition, expanded to 10 teams this year by the inclusion of Huddersfield Giants and Warrington Wolves, had been due to begin at the end of last month, but was put on hold two weeks earlier when all rugby league was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Players have since been training on their own, under lockdown conditions and there is as yet no clear indication when – or indeed if – the season will kick-off.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The reintroduced men’s reserve grade competition was abandoned for the year last week and in the community game, the flagship National Conference League will be replaced by regionalised groups when the sport is cleared to resume.

CHANGE OF ROLE: Lois Forsell played for Bradford Bulls, Leeds Rhinos and England before retiring with injury and ultimately succeeding Adam Cutherbertson as coach.CHANGE OF ROLE: Lois Forsell played for Bradford Bulls, Leeds Rhinos and England before retiring with injury and ultimately succeeding Adam Cutherbertson as coach.
CHANGE OF ROLE: Lois Forsell played for Bradford Bulls, Leeds Rhinos and England before retiring with injury and ultimately succeeding Adam Cutherbertson as coach.

However, Leeds Rhinos’ new coach Lois Forsell is upbeat about the prospects of the women’s elite league going ahead in some form.

“What we have heard is the RFL are optimistic they will get a season up and running,” said Forsell, a former England international who was forced to hang up her boots last autumn due to injury and has since taken over from previous Leeds coach Adam Cuthbertson.

“But I suppose they are the same as everyone – no one can make any judgements because it’s such an unprecedented time and we’ve not had anything like it before to say ‘in the past this is what happened’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The RFL are doing a great job of looking at contingency plans and they have been great, they will let us know as and when.”

Forsell admits the timing of the shutdown was particularly harsh on the women’s game, but feels the extra preparation time is being put to good use by the players.

“The girls are raring to get going,” she added. “I was excited too, with a change of role, but the good thing is if anyone was thinking they needed to do more before the season started, they have got that opportunity now.

“I am sure the men will be feeling the same, if they weren’t quite happy with their performance from a fitness perspective they will be using this time to make sure they are up to scratch once they get back.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Leeds’s players have been keeping in touch over social media, with regular quiz nights being arranged to maintain team morale.

Forsell said: “The girls have had lots of support about what they can be doing and should be doing, guidance-wise, but everyone’s having to do it on their own.

“That’s a great opportunity, but also a time when people are going to have to be really really good at motivating themselves and staying on the right track.

“The girls are doing really well, they are all buying in.

“It is a great opportunity in the sense that those who don’t work at the moment have got an opportunity to almost train full-time, kind of have a second pre-season.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Obviously they are all missing playing, because they were ready for round one and we were all looking forward to the season starting, but it is one of those things.”

Forsell is on furlough from her role with Rhinos’ foundation, but has been volunteering for the Homeless Street Angels charity in Leeds, as well as hosting her own women in sport podcast.

Of that, she said: “It has been great, hearing so many different people’s stories.

“It is great to get different perspectives – and human interaction.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor