Richard Agar: Leeds Rhinos head coach quietly upbeat about 2022 progress
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Leeds' quartet of signings, Aidan Sezer, James Bentley, Blake Austin and David Fusitu'a, have high calibre
Head coach Richard Agar is quietly excited by the promise within his Leeds Rhinos side for 2022, going into their Super League opener against Warrington.
Rhinos kick-off their season at home to the Wire on Saturday, the first match shown on terrestrial TV by Channel 4.
The arrivals of star halves Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin, fiery back-rower James Bentley and X-factor winger David Fusitu'a have added depth to the ranks.
"It is exciting, but I have to balance that out," Agar told BBC Sport.
"We can't get too excited. The potential in the team, what we can achieve and the style of football it can play, I think we just sometimes have to get that balance and rein it in. We don't want to do it too much.
"Getting that balance right in the early rounds is going to be key, but the staff have been great this year, we've had a positive pre-season."
Agar has been enthused by the belief and togetherness within a squad which, in addition to the new arrivals, has been perked by the return from injury of full-back Jack Walker.
His backroom staff was also bolstered during the off-season by the arrival of Rich Hunwicks as performance director, after his successful stint at last season's Grand Finalists Catalans Dragons.
"Rich's had a terrific impact on the squad," Agar added. "They've brought into everything about Rich.
"One of the things I said to him when he was in the throes of joining us, was that he'd have a group of players 'eating out of his hand'. It's not going to be a struggle to take the horse to water and to get it to drink. These guys want to go there."
There has been considerable change in particular in the halves, an area which Leeds had to think creatively to fill during a testing 2021 campaign.
Injuries to Luke Gale - who has now moved on to Hull, Richie Myler, Rob Lui and the departure and retirement of Kyle Eastmond all restricted the continuity of a position which is so essential to a team's strategy and gameplan.
The import of the aforementioned Austin and Sezer, both ex-Canberra team-mates, has given Leeds a high-end option in those playmaking slots.
"They've played three seasons together before," Agar continued. "So that initial period where they're feeling each other out and trying to understand the dynamic, we haven't had to go through all that.
"It has been a case of knitting them into our style of play and also listening to them about some bits they feel will work for them and bring into our style.
"They've been good, Aiden's brought a calmness and assuredness, and we've now got a left-footed kicker and a right-footed kicker.
"We've got three outstanding hookers, in Kruise [Leeming], Brad [Dwyer] and Corey [Johnson]. We've got a huge rap on Corey.
"So after having about 17 or 18 half-back combinations last year stability is going to be key, but we do have some strength in depth as well."