Leeds Rhinos' Cooper Jenkins talks Las Vegas delight as 'relaxed' approach pays off
The new contract Leeds Rhinos agreed with prop Cooper Jenkins last November could be one of pre-season’s smartest bits of business.
The 24-year-old Australian showcased his quality in front of an NRL audience when he bagged a brace of tries inside the last three minutes of Rhinos’ epic 58-6 demolition of Hull KR in Las Vegas. Jenkins arrived at Leeds ahead of the 2025 campaign as a project signing, having never played at the elite level.
A Queensland Cup and NRL State Championship winner with Brisbane outfit Norths Devils in 2024, he had a strong debut season when he made 24 first team appearances, 19 of those in the starting side. Originally recruited on a two-year contract, that was quickly extended until the end of 2028 and early indications are Jenkins’ game has gone up another level this term.
He said: “Last year was my first being proper full-time and BA [boss Brad Arthur] and the coaching staff helped me a lot. BA has put a lot of faith in me, I am a lot more relaxed and I am really enjoying my footy at Leeds. It is good to be starting. Every front-rower wants to do that. I like starting, but I’ll do whatever’s best for the team.”
Jenkins’ double in Vegas took his try tally for the year to three after he grabbed Leeds’ opening touchdown of the Super League season during last month’s loss at Leigh Leopards. “I was pretty happy,” he said of his feat against Rovers. “It was just a mad experience, the crowd was going off and you may as well soak it up while you can. I scored my last try in front of my cousin, who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years - he was sitting in that corner - so it was good.”
Jenkins described last week’s game as “an unreal experience, probably one of the highlights of my career”, adding: “It was a great week with all the boys; it was hard soaking it all in, because there was so much happening, but the fans turned out and we couldn’t have played any better.
“It was great, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. We were locked into our game all week, our game plan was to front load and go out as hard as we could and we did that. I feel like we dominated them early on and for the whole game, pretty much.”
Most of the headlines focussed on four-try winger Maika Sivo and halves Brodie Croft and Jake Connor - who were both outstanding - but Leeds’ forwards laid the platform by taking the game to the Robins. “That was our game plan, especially with the field being about five metres narrow on the sidelines,” Jenkins said.
“We knew we would be too physical through the middle if we knocked the front door down. Ash [Handley], Harry [Newman], Maika and Hally [Ryan Hall] were great in the backs, it was good having Keenan [Palasia] back and Cameron Smith killed it as well.”
Sivo has scored six tries in two matches since recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury which wiped out his 2025 season. Jenkins reflected: “How good is he? He had a tough year last year, coming over here and doing his acl, but we’re so happy for him to be back playing and he is such a great bloke as well.”