SUPER LEAGUE 2021 – STARTS TOMORROW

KYLE Eastmond has already showed he will have no problem adjusting back to rugby league after 10 years away.

The dual-code England international is back in his first sport after a decade in rugby union.

But Rhinos coach Richard Agar revealed the 31-year-old wasted little time in showing he has not lost any of his sharpness by spotting where Leeds can get better and teams can be exploited ahead of his possible debut against Wakefield.

He said: “Straight away, within a couple of video sessions, he picked up some subtle changes about how teams are attacking now.

“He sits there with his pad and his pen and draws little diagrams as we’re doing video.

“We put the play names up for him, Sean Long and I spend a bit more time with him one-on-one when we’re knocking it all together for some extra tuition.

“People forget he’s played rugby league at lot longer than he played rugby union. He played from being a young kid.

“While he’s been out of the sport, I see him as an elite rugby player. It’s not like he’s totally alien to it and he’s starting from scratch.”

Eastmond insists the time is right for him to get back into rugby league, just as the time was right for him to cross codes in 2011.

If he does play on Saturday, it is likely to be at stand-off alongside captain Luke Gale.

And there has been no dragging him up to speed in training.

Agar added: “Kyle’s done some things on the pitch that make you sit up and go, ‘Hang on a minute.’ He looks every bit the player we know he can be.

“He’s fitted into it pretty seamlessly but to expect him to hit the ground running and be an international standard half-back having been out of the game is a little unrealistic.”

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