Super League: Leeds Rhinos’ re-signed centre Harry Newman targets silverware and the delayed 2021 World Cup

The exciting centre, 21, has agreed a new deal with the West Yorkshire club which keeps him at Headingley until at least the end of 2024.

Not only is his commitment great news for Leeds but also Betfred Super League as a competition and England given he is seen as someone who could go on and make a mark at next year’s World Cup.

Newman successfully returned from a serious double-leg fracture in July after missing 10 months of action and is now looking to kick-on.

His current contract was due to expire at the end of 2022 and the Huddersfield-born player conceded he had thought about potentially making a change.

“Especially after my injury, it made me realise this is a short career and it can be over just like that,” he explained.

“So I took my time with it. Obviously I had this year left anyway and I did explore options in the NRL and also rugby union as well.

“It’s been a stressful few weeks trying to get it all sorted but I’m absolutely delighted to be staying here.

“I finally know what I’m going to do and just feel really settled here and ready to kick on.

“I’ve been here since I was 14 so to secure these next three years has really, really made me happy.”

Academy product Newman, who debuted in 2017 while still a teenager, admitted the support of the club’s fans during his long lay-off as well as other players committing to Rhinos helped him reach his conclusion.

Newman played for England Knights two years ago and is rated highly by Shaun Wane who has called him up into his squad to prepare for next year’s World Cup.

“The World Cup is something I’ve had in mind for the last few years and been building towards it,” he said.

“Obviously the tournament got postponed this year which was probably good for me as I didn’t quite get to where I wanted to be physically having come back from such a big injury.

“But it is a really exciting year for the sport and an exciting year for the club.

“We have a lot of young players who will be pushing to make that squad and, for me, I know the things I need to improve on to get myself physically ready to compete in Super League first.”

Newman missed last year’s Challenge-Cup-final success because of that injury but he hopes to right that with Leeds during the length of his new contract.

“That’s something that all rugby players aspire to: winning silverware,” he said.

“For me, it was gutting to miss that final but missing it in Covid times [no fans] was probably the best time to miss it if you are going to miss a final.

“As a group, next year we’ll be looking to build on last season and, hopefully, go one step farther on making a Grand Final while competing as hard as we can in the Challenge Cup.

“The fans have been great with me and I’m just going to give my all to make sure I play my best on a Thursday, Friday or whenever and make sure we go win some silverware for the crowd.”

He is also looking forward to linking up with new Australian half-backs Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin who “glide around the park” and should improve their attack in 2022.