Leeds Rhinos scrum-half Jordan Lilley has insisted that despite huge pressure on the defending champions in 2016, he’s not feeling a bit of it.
Lilley has been thrown in at the deep end at the start of his professional career with the Rhinos, playing a large number of their games so far this season due to recurring injuries to captain Danny McGuire.
Lilley has impressed whilst on the field for the most part, and when asked by TotalRL if he feels the pressure of being in such a high-profile side, he replied by saying he’s simply “living the dream”.
“I haven’t felt the pressure; other people might look at it like that but I’m a young lad who’s living the dream,” he said.
“I just go out there and try and play my way. I’ve racked up some decent performances but it’s still all just about learning for me and trying to get better as the season goes on.”
Lilley also said that the likes of himself, Ash Handley and Ashton Golding are all receiving huge experience that will be “invaluable” for the years to come, and says the next clutch of Rhinos stars have to try and do what the last group did over the past decade.
“The experience the young lads like myself are getting now will be invaluable,” he said.
“This is a changing of the guard somewhat for this club with the younger guys coming in at the start of this year and others moving on, so it’s time for us to stand up, reproduce what they’ve done and have another special period for Leeds Rhinos.”
Lilley will again line up in the halves this evening as the Rhinos travel to St Helens in the continued absence of Rhinos skipper McGuire. He will partner Liam Sutcliffe as Leeds look to make it back-to-back wins following last Friday’s win against Hull FC.
