Luke Robinson reveals the surprise club that released Kruise Leeming as a teenager

Luke Robinson is hoping the man he brought to Huddersfield Giants doesn’t return to haunt them on Friday. Giants face derby rivals Leeds Rhinos looking to secure five successive Super League wins for the first time since 2018.

But their neighbours have received a lift with the arrival of new boss Rohan Smith. And ex-Giants hooker Kruise Leeming - who was sold to Leeds in 2020 - is also in the form of his life.

Huddersfield assistant coach Robinson said: “Leeds are playing quite good rugby and they’ve picked up some results. You normally get that lift when a new coach comes in.

Wakefield Trinity sweating over Reece Lyne as they nervously await injury update

“From what I can gather, he is a really good coach who thinks in depth about the game. What you’ll get from Leeds is some ad-lib rugby where they pass the ball around and they’ve got two nines who can be devastating if they’re allowed to control the ruck speed.

“Kruise (Leeming) and Brad Dwyer are electric and they are two key men we have to stop.”

Leeming, 26, played more than 100 games for Giants after coming through their academy but since moving to Headingley has won the Challenge Cup and gained selection to the England squad. Asked how impressed he’d been with the player since he switched, Robinson said: “I was the one who got Kruise into Huddersfield.

“He’s a Siddal boy like me and he’d just come back from England Academy when I asked him what he was doing. He told me Warrington had released him and I couldn’t believe somebody that talented didn’t have a club.

“So I got him down to Huddersfield as fast as I could. Kruise was always going to be a good player and had the makings of somebody who can play: he sees the game, feels the game and is a really good