Leeds Rhinos haven’t had much to celebrate in a disappointing season, but local youngster Alfie Edgell’s first team breakthrough has been one shining light.

The Leeds-born back has started seven games this season and been on the bench five times, though one of those was as an unused substitute. Only one of his starts has been in his specialist full-back role, at Hull KR in round two, the others coming as a winger.

Edgell retains his place in Rhinos’ initial 21-man squad for Saturday’s visit of Wigan Warriors, but David Fusitu’a is also included – after two games out with a calf injury – and could take over on the right-flank. That is unlikely to dampen the enthusiasm of the 20-year-old who scored his first senior try against Salford Red Devils last Saturday and admitted: “To be honest, I have loved this season.”

He said: “Obviously it hasn’t been the best results-wise, but personally it has been great to get some games under my belt. I had never played wing before this season, but I’ve just taken it in my stride and tried to do my best for the team.

Alfie Edgell makes a break for Leeds Rhinos against Leigh Leopards this season. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Alfie Edgell makes a break for Leeds Rhinos against Leigh Leopards this season. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

“It is more about doing my job than trying to do things out of the ordinary. The boys inside me really help, Paul [Momirovski] is really experienced, Brodie [Croft] is class and James McDonnell really helps that edge. I have to give a lot of credit to them.”

Full-back Lachie Miller has two years on his contract after this one and Edgell added: “Probably if I didn’t have that versatility I’d have played that Hull KR game and that might have been it. I might have had a few appearances off the bench, but I think it has benefitted me massively this year and it’s only going to help me going forward as well.”

Edgell crossed for Leeds’ second try as they went 12-0 up inside 10 minutes at Salford. They led 16-6 later in the first half before slumping to a 22-16 defeat which left them four points outside Betfred Super League’s top-six with seven games remaining.

“It’s always nice to score, but I’d have swapped that for the two points, 100 per cent,” Edgell stressed. “I think we kind of beat ourselves, but there’s still plenty of games left. We’ve just got to pick our heads up and go again.

Alfie Edgell, right, in action for Leeds Rhinos against Leigh Leopards this season. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

“I think we showed, even when the scoreboard was against us in the last five-10 minutes, we didn’t give up. I think you can expect that from us for the rest of the season.

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“We will stick to our plan and see where it gets us. Obviously we have got to execute it better; we didn’t execute it the best we could last week and I think if we execute the plan better we’ll be all right.”

Of what went wrong after such a good start, Edgell reflected: “There were plenty of errors and penalties and it’s not the first time that’s happened either. It is definitely something we’ve got to work on for this week and moving forward.

Experienced centre Paul Momirovski, seen scoring against London Broncos, has been a huge help to Alfie Edgell this season, the Leeds Rhinos youngster says. Picture by Jonathan Gawthorpe.

“It’s just little details; errors and penalties are the number one thing, but I think everyone has little details they can look at and work on at training.”

Rhinos’ run in includes two meetings with current leaders Wigan and they also face second-placed Hull KR and Warrington Wolves, who are third, but Edgell is defiant. He vowed: “They are the games you want to be in. After last week’s result I think it’s the perfect time for us to prove ourselves against the best and put out a statement.”