Loui McConnell excited by Championship challenge after leaving Leeds Rhinos for Featherstone Rovers

Loui McConnell is excited about the challenge posed by the Championship after signing a permanent deal with Featherstone Rovers.
Loui McConnell.Loui McConnell.
Loui McConnell.

The 20-year-old joins the club after being released by the Leeds Rhinos reserve’s team.

He said: “I’m looking forward to the challenge of playing men I suppose. The pace of the game is going to be slightly quicker and you have to take every chance you can get in the Championship.

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“It’s great to finally get signed and done. I look forward to either getting started this year or next year.”

McConnell is also looking ahead to learning from what is an experienced group of players at Featherstone. With the side eyeing a future place in Super League, the youngster believes Rovers have what it takes to compete at the top.

He said: “There’s bags of experience in that squad. It’s just another learning opportunity for me, gather what they know and learn as much as I can from them.

“I don’t see why we can’t get promotion into Super League and be a contender as well. I’m looking forward to that but there’s a big long road ahead of us yet.”

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Before signing with Featherstone, the player spent time in the Leeds Rhinos academy under the stewardship of eight-time Super League winner Rob Burrow.

McConnell looks back fondly at his time at Leeds saying: I’ve made some great friends there and my rugby has developed while in the academy. I’ve played in a Grand Final and I’ve got nothing but great memories at that club.”

The player will be joined at Featherstone by his fellow Rhinos academy teammate Liam Whitton who also signed a contract with the club.

“He’s been part of the same set up over the last few years,” said McConnell.

“We’ve played in grand finals together, we know each other really well and we know how we play so we’ll help each other out massively.”