Leeds Rhinos captain, Danny McGuire will become only the 13th player in the club’s history to play 400 games for the club when he takes to the field for the Rhinos this Friday against Wigan.
McGuire has made 352 starts for his home town club and 47 substitute appearances and will join the likes of club legends Jim Brough, Kevin Sinfield MBE and John Holmes when he plays in his 400th game on Friday.
His Rhinos debut came against Salford in front of a home crowd, replacing Iestyn Harris and he made one further appearance that season from the bench. By the 2002 season, after impressing in the Rhinos Academy he had earned a place in the Rhinos full time squad.
During the 2004 season Danny truly marked his place in the Super League competition as part of the team that ended a 32 year wait for the Championship. Danny led the way throughout the season, scoring an incredible 39 tries in all competitions, including on in the Grand Final, and being the first Leeds player in almost half a century to score five tries in a match when the Rhinos beat Widnes.
He was rewarded for his achievements when he was named Rugby League Writers Association Player of the Year as well as being included in the Tetley’s Super League Dream Team after narrowly missing out on being Super League's highest scorer by just one try to Bradford’s Lesley Vainikolo.
Not only has Danny proved he is a prolific try scorer he has also delighted Leeds fans on many occasions, with some spectacular tries. Some of the memorable highlights being two against St Helens in the 2003 Challenge Cup Semi Final, when he first of all set up extra time and then won the game off the bench, the winning try in the 2004 Super League Grand Final, the opening try in the Carnegie World Club Challenge win over Canterbury and his two in the 2015 Grand Final that led to him winning the Harry Sunderland award.
In 2005 he scored 23 tries in 27 appearances, 12 off the bench, despite being restricted through injury at the start of the season. The 2006 season saw Danny back to his blistering best, with 12 tries in the opening seven games. He continued to lead the way for the Rhinos and looked like he was heading for the title of Super League’s highest try scorer, just to be piped once again as he was in 2004. His total of 27 would surely have been higher had he not missed part of the campaign once again through injury.
In 2007 he won his second Grand Final winner’s ring with victory over St Helens and the following year, as well as winning a second World Club Challenge title he made history as part of the first Leeds team to win back to back Championships, scoring two tries in the final at Old Trafford. In 2009 he only missed three games all season as he spear headed the Rhinos charge for League Leaders and Grand Final glory.
The 2010 season saw Danny named as the Rhinos Player of the Season after a superb season when he scored 27 tries over the campaign, the most memorable of which came in the Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final against St Helens in the final stages of the game to seal an incredible win.
In 2011 he fought back from a knee reconstruction to become only the fifth player to score 200 tries for the club with a try in the play-off win against Hull FC. He also played in his third Challenge Cup Final and won his fifth Super League title as part of the successful side in the club’s history. During the 2012 campaign Danny suffered a knee injury against Widnes that ruled him out of that year’s Challenge Cup Final but came back to win his sixth Grand Final. He scored 22 tries in 26 appearances, which included five tries in the Magic Weekend win over Bradford Bulls.
In 2014 Danny finally added the trophy that had eluded him through his career, scoring a try in the Challenge Cup Final against Castleford when the Rhinos secured the famous trophy for the first time since 1999.
2015 saw the golden generation complete another incredible achievement by securing the League Leaders, Challenge Cup and Grand Final for the first time in the club’s history.