Joe Rodon is the calmest madman ever — Square Ball 20/2/25
Humping a leg
Written by: Chris McMenamy
I would follow Joe Rodon into war. He’s become the spiritual
leader of Leeds United’s promotion push, playing alongside captain Ethan Ampadu
in a defence that his coach loves to call the “Welsh Wall”. During Monday
night’s emotionally overwhelming win against Sunderland, there was no Leeds
player I felt more in-tune with than Rodon.
Back when Leeds were 1-0 down, Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien
decided to jump on a prone Illan Meslier after the ‘keeper caught a free-kick —
an avant garde professional foul. Rather than tolerate it, Rodon pushed O’Nien
off Leeds’ goalkeeper in the same manner you’d separate a Jack Russell from
humping a leg. Then he responded to Wilson Isidor’s attempt to square up to him
with what we’ll call a light brush of the head, as I presume the FA are still
desperately trying to find an angle to punish Leeds for it.
Was Rodon’s reaction to Isidor a sensible one? Of course
not, but in hindsight it was just right. Sometimes you’ve got to let a striker
know who’s boss. Something similar happened when Leeds drew 1-1 at Preston in
December as Milutin Osmajic — who had recently returned from a ten-game ban
after biting Blackburn’s Owen Beck — tried to kick Rodon after losing a duel.
Big Joe got right in his face and the wannabe Osmajic quickly backed down when
he realised he’d picked on someone his own size.
Rodon spent most of Monday night doing what he does best:
breaking up attacks and going on mazy runs like a Welsh Franco Baresi. As Leeds
equalised through Pascal Struijk in the 77th minute, the stadium lost its
collective mind and Rodon joined in, running back to his spot on the edge of
the Leeds box and celebrating to himself. Rodon is a proper football fan and
it’s never more evident than when Leeds score.
He famously sat in the away end at Cardiff as a Swansea
player when he was injured and prompted former Cardiff (and Leeds, sort of)
striker Nathan Blake to write a rather salty column for Wales Online about not
dividing support for the national team. To borrow an overused cliché, Rodon
‘gets it’.
But it’s not just his personality. Rodon’s pace and ability
to win one-on-one battles with attackers has given Leeds fans a sense of
reassurance that has been desperately lacking in recent years. If you try to
run past Rodon, he’s likely to stop you in your tracks. Should you instead put
the ball over the top, it’ll only serve to allow him a chance to show off his
wheels. He’s started every Leeds United league fixture since the start of
October 2023, a consecutive run of 69 games at the time of writing. After a
controversial red card against Hull last season, Rodon was suspended for the
Watford game that followed and Daniel Farke left him on the bench as Leeds were
trounced 4-1 at Southampton. The manager hasn’t dropped him since, with the
exception of the odd cup tie.
Rodon has only been substituted twice in 85 Leeds
appearances and Farke even joked about not letting him come off injured in the
3-1 win against Middlesbrough played three days after Rodon scored his first
Leeds goal. “I told him [he had] no chance of a substitution. Last weekend you
celebrated and now, we need some steel, no chance we sub you,” Farke said, only
half-joking.
The weekly niggles have added to the lore around Rodon.
Without fail, in every match there’s a moment when he’s holding an injured body
part and you find yourself thinking he’s going off. But he never does. Is he
really injured? Should we be worried? Or is he playing possum with his opposite
man in the ultimate mind game? Dunno. He’s probably just being Joe Rodon.
Consistency is the theme with him. Defending, being injured,
having a 50p head at attacking corners. Rodon was booked four times in the
first nine matches of the 2024/25 season, meaning he would be suspended if
yellow carded in any of the next ten fixtures. “I will tell the referees before
a game that the one foul Joe Rodon has is not always a yellow card,” said Farke
after the fourth booking. Leeds were also missing Ethan Ampadu and Max Wober at
this point, meaning that there was no natural cover at centre-back. Rodon went
through ten games without being booked and has only received one caution in 24
appearances since receiving his fourth yellow at Sunderland in early October.
Rodon is one of those rare players that passes the eye test
and posts impressive defensive stats, but has also developed a character in the
eyes of Leeds fans as a bit of a madman. Perhaps we fans are seeing what we
want to, making Rodon the embodiment of a fanbase that his boss called
“probably the most emotional club in this country”.