Leeds Rhinos nostalgia: the points-packed but injury-hit career of home-grown talent David Creasser

Eleventh on the list is David Creasser, who reached the milestone 33 years ago this week.

Creasser reached four figures with a try in a 38-16 win over Leigh at Headingley on January 17, 1990.

In total, the leeds-born centre/stand-off scored 1,073 points for Leeds, from 1983-1992 and if it hadn’t been for wretched luck with injuries, his tally would have been much higher.

A product of the famous Hunslet Parkside production line, Creasser came through the ranks alongside Garry Schofield and the pair played together when the Great Britain amateur side toured New Zealand in 1983.

While Schofield went to Hull on his return, Creasser signed for Leeds, making his debut in a 30-14 Yorkshire Cup win over Batley at Mount Pleasant on September 4, 1983.

His first points came later that month when he scored a hat-trick of tries in a 20-19 win at Wakefield Trinity, which was only his second game at first team level.

A fluent runner with a handy passing game - and a deadly-accurate boot - the 18-year-old picked up a winner’s medal in his first season, landing five goals when Leeds beat Widnes 18-10 in the JPS final at Wigan’s Central Park on January 14, 1984.

He also starred in that year’s run to the last four of the Challenge Cup, firing over a last gasp conversion - after Kevin Squires’ 77th minute try had levelled the scores - to snatch a 12-10 win over Bradford Northern in a quarter-final replay at Odsal.

Creasser was Leeds’ top scorer for tries (16), goals (76) and points (216) in 1983-84, when he played 35 times, all but two of those in the starting 13.

After his first season Creasser seemed destined for a long and successful career at club and international level.

He did go on to win four Great Britain caps, completing a grand slam after also representing the Lions at amateur, under-18s and under-21 level, but a horrific run of injuries denied him the chance to become a household name.

Creasser’s right shoulder dislocated five times while he was playing for Leeds and he also suffered damage to a knee, dislocated elbow and breaks to a hand and his jaw.

The succession of painful and long-term setbacks eventually forced him to hang up his boots at the start of the 1992-93 season and a later comeback in the lower divisions was halted for the same reason.

Playing at stand-off, Creasser was overshadowed in his milestone match, in January 1990, by hooker Colin Maskill, whose two tries and nine goals brought him a personal career best points tally of 26.

Phil Ford and John Bentley also crossed for Leeds, who overcame a half-time deficit in front of a crowd of 6,416.

Other players to pass 1,000 points for Leeds are: Kevin Sinfield (3,967), Lewis Jones (2,920), Joe Tompson (1,883), John Holmes (1,554), Iestyn Harris (1,455), Bev Risman (1,282), Eric Harris (1,205), Bert Cook (1,169), Rob Burrow (1,103), Danny McGuire (1,075), Kevin Dick (1,054) and John Atkinson (1,020).