Senior central to Leeds' grand designs

Keith Senior, at 27, is no longer the junior partner. Learning his trade in the Leeds and Great Britain teams, he is arguably the player most central to the hopes of both teams over the next couple of months.

Senior last week won Leeds' Player of the Year award for the first time, something he takes as a compliment to his new maturity. "I was disappointed not to win it last year," he says. "So this year I've gone back to basics.

"I've not been as adventurous, not thrown the ball around as much. In the past, I've tended to push the play, to try to win the game every time I make a break."

The new, more canny Senior will be a key man for Leeds when they face up to Bradford for the fifth time this season, at Odsal tomorrow, with a ticket to the Super League Grand Final the prize for the winner.

"We've had four games and three of them have been superb spectacles that could have gone either way," he says. "We've had the opportunities but our execution hasn't quite been good enough.

"Overall, though, this has been a much more consistent season. We've beaten all the other top sides - now we just need to beat Bradford."

Senior picks out the arrival of Gary Connolly from Wigan as one of the key factors in this year's improvement, which saw Leeds top the table for most of the season, as well as reach the Challenge Cup final, where they lost to Bradford.

"He's got a new lease of life here. He was moved to full-back, where he really enjoyed it. He is a bit of an inspiration to me. He's been around for years and I don't think he's got one good knee, never mind two, but now he's showing great form back in the centres again.

"Richard Mathers has been playing really well at full-back and he's been watching and learning from Gary. If he does that, he won't go far wrong."

Senior knows all about coming under the right influences at an early age. When he first signed for Sheffield Eagles, he was seen as a natural successor to Daryl Powell, now his coach at Leeds.

"That was a great compliment to me, because he was a current Great Britain player, and he was a great help to me. He was probably under-rated as a player - and you don't get 33 caps if you're crap - and now I think he's under-rated as a coach."

Like many people, Senior was initially baffled when Leeds announced in July that Powell would be standing down for two years at the end of this season, with Huddersfield's Tony Smith taking over in his absence.

"It did seem a bit weird at the time, but now I think it's a good idea in theory. Daryl's the first to admit that he's got a lot to work on and we can only benefit from everything he's going to learn.

"I've spoken to the lads I know at Huddersfield, like Darren Turner and Darren Fleary, and they just give Tony rave reviews. He's from the same mould as his brother, Brian, and as Graham Murray, who did so well at Leeds.

"It will be like starting again, taking on board what he's got to say. It would be good to send Daryl off, though, with a Grand Final victory. He's been through a lot here over the last few seasons. When he took over, everyone was still raving about Graham Murray. Deal Lance never had a chance and it was a one of the most demanding jobs in rugby league that Daryl took over.

"He's started to turn a few heads now and people are taking notice of what he's achieved."

A Super League title would also be the perfect launching pad for Senior into the Ashes series against Australia in November. Not only is he now, officially, Leeds' leading player, he will also be one of the first names David Waite writes down on his Great Britain team-sheet.

Senior hopes that Connolly's will be one of the next, with a Leeds combination hopefully working as well for country as for club. All the signs are that Leeds and Great Britain will need both to be at their best if they are to make this autumn a memorable one.