Occasion gets to Uncle Keith

Senior: Felt nerves

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Keith Senior has admitted to feeling nervous ahead of his landmark 500th appearance in Super League on Saturday.

The evergreen Leeds centre became the first player in the modern era to reach the milestone when he featured in the Rhinos' 43-30 win over Hull.

But the 33-year-old former Great Britain international revealed afterwards that the significance of the occasion got to him.

"I spoke to Bluey (coach Brian McClennan) about the game and I said it was the first time I've felt a bit anxious about going into a game," he said.

Hyped up

"It had been hyped up quite a bit and it's something that I'm very proud that I've finally achieved and I'm definitely proud of the fact that I've got to the 500."

Senior celebrated the occasion in suitable style - scoring the 230th try of his decorated career, as well as turning provider to send England wing Ryan Hall in for two touchdowns.

He recently brought up his 300th appearance for Leeds also against Hull, scoring twice against them at the end of May and he was pleased to continue his run against the Black and Whites.

"It's always good to score a try but I seem to be racking them up against Hull," he added.

"My 300th game for Leeds was against Hull and it was nice to score and it was good to get over again and also good to get young Ryan the space out wide for two more."

But Senior is not resting on his laurels and has already penned a new one-year deal which will keep him at Leeds until the end of next year.

McClennan delighted

Coach McClennan is delighted that the former Sheffield man - whom he affectionately calls Uncle Keith - is planning on sticking around.

"To get 500 games in the professional era is a tremendous achievement and there's more to come," he said.

"I think his attacking was very good and he put Ryan Hall over and that first 10 minutes was sublime really.

"It was like that last week too (against Bradford) in the first 10 minutes and that's when everyone's freshest at their best too. They know it's coming but they're struggling to contain it.

"It's a really good effort and our whole team is really proud to be involved in such a historic occasion, the first man in the Super League era to get 500, it's fantastic

"There's plenty more to come too from Uncle Keith."