Leigh Leopards loan ace looks to make his mark at Doncaster RLFC
New loan signing Lewis Baxter has been able to give Doncaster RLFC boss Richard Horne ‘inside information’ on Sunday’s Betfred Championship opponents Whitehaven in training this week.
The 22 year-old prop/second-rower played two games for the Cumbrians on loan from Super League outfit Leigh Leopards prior to moving to the Eco-Power Stadium at the start of the month.
“Although they are currently down near the bottom they are a decent side especially at home,” he said. “They could have beaten Toulouse when I was there but they scored three late tries to win the game.”
Baxter played three first-team games for St Helens, where he came through their acclaimed academy, and also played for the club in the 2023 Reserves Grand Final before being released and snapped up by Leigh Leopards.
He has yet to start a game for the Leopards, who boast one of the best packs in Super League, and he was happy to join the Dons on loan until the end of the season when the opportunity arose following team-mate Nathan Wilde’s decision to look for a club nearer home after finding it a problem travelling over to Doncaster for training and matches.
“It’s been a good move for me and I’m enjoying being here,” he said.
Baxter couldn’t have had a much tougher start to his loan spell at the club with back-to-back games against two of the top three sides but says the Dons could have finished with four points from the two games.
“I think if we had made a better start against Sheffield, where we came in 22-6 down, we would have had a good chance of beating them,” he said reflecting on the 22-20 defeat.
“We knew that we really had to be on our game from the start on Saturday to stand any chance of beating Toulouse because they are a really good team as they proved when beating unbeaten leaders Wakefield Trinity 32-4 a few weeks ago.”
The 20-18 win saw the Dons retain their place in the top half of the table and Baxter, who has impressed with his ball carrying and work-rate, says he is not surprised that they are doing so well in their first season at this level in eight years.
“Doncaster have a good squad on paper so I was happy to come here because I knew that they would be winning games and hopefully I can help them win some more going forward, starting with Whitehaven on Sunday,” he told the Free Press.