Former Leeds Rhinos duo sign for Championship outfit Hunslet RLFC

Mackenzie Turner is staying at Hunslet after completing last season there on loan from Oldham, while Coby Nichol joins the Parksiders from Cornwall. Both players are 21 and have penned a one-year deal for the promoted Betfred Championship side.

Turner joined Leeds’ scholarship from the Stanningley community club and played for their academy and reserves sides - as well as on loan with Cornwall, Hunslet and Midlands Hurricanes - before joining Oldham for the 2024 campaign.

He scored two tries in five games for the League One champions and touched down nine times in 13 games during his spell with Hunslet this year, including the play-off final victory at Keighley Cougars and win against Swinton Lions which secured promotion to the second-tier. Turner is grandson of Drew Broatch, who played 153 times for Leeds in the 1960s and later coached Hunslet.

“We saw Mackenzie’s ability to find the try line in the play-offs, but it was his ability to carry out and gain yardage that also impressed,” the Parksiders’ coach Dean Muir said. “He is a young man who gets better every week, he is fast, powerful and a quick learner. He fits in really well with this group and is a great person.”

Nichol also came through Rhinos’ youth system and signed for Bradford Bulls four years ago. He moved to Cornwall, initially on dual-registration, in 2022 and had a brief spell with Swinton Lions earlier this year.

“He is a winger who carries well in yardage and knows his way to the try line,” Muir noted. “[He] buys into what we are doing [and] wants to improve and be part of what we are creating.”