Brad Arthur’s fighting talk as Leeds Rhinos boss makes bold declaration after Wigan Warriors defeat

Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur has sent a strong message to Wigan Warriors after his side’s disappointing defeat on Saturday night.

Arthur’s men were heavily beaten in a table-topping clash, with Leeds, who went into the game in first, going down 40-8 to Matt Peet’s Warriors, who have since overtaken the Rhinos in pole position.

The ladder change comes at a crucial time, meaning that Wigan are now two points ahead with just one game to go, meaning that all they need to do is avoid defeat against Catalans Dragons and their second piece of silverware in 2026 will be presented to them.

Whilst the Rhinos are still mathematically in with a chance, the club are all but resigned to the fact that the League Leaders’ Shield will go to the Warriors, meaning that their full focus is now on the Grand Final.

Speaking at the Leeds Rhinos club awards night on Monday evening, a determined Arthur offered his thoughts on both the defeat on Saturday and the remainder of the season.

He said: “We’re very disappointed in the performance, but we’re not going to let those 80 minutes define us.

“Our season is certainly not over. I feel strongly that it’s only getting started. We have to learn from that experience the other night, a few things went against us, and we didn’t respond in the best way possible. Maybe that falls on my shoulders a little bit, but we’ll be better for the occasion.”

Leeds head towards the play-offs, and are just one win at Headingley away from a place in the Grand Final. Twelve months ago, the club had secured their first home play-off game in eight years, but that came crashing down in the worst way possible with a last-gasp defeat to St Helens.

Asked about the progression of the team since that moment, Arthur reflected: “I think we can see it in the results. You don’t sit at number one for 16, 17 weeks… We’ve been consistent all year, we need to stay there.

“If you have a look at how we’ve won, we’ve won big, we’ve won from behind, we’ve won tight games – we’ve learned how to win all different ways.”

There was also some fighting talk for the Rhinos boss, who insists that, following on from the defeat, Leeds will get the better of the Warriors this year.

“I think we’ll see the best of this team in the next couple of weeks,” he said confidently. “It’s very disappointing, the performance, but we probably haven’t seen the best of this squad, and our best performance is going to be better than Wigan’s best performance.”

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Lachie Miller “likely” to miss the rest of 2026 after hamstring injury

Arthur’s comments on the evening also provided fans with an update on star full-back Lachie Miller, who left the field just minutes into the Wigan game on Saturday.

The boss said post-match that he believes Miller has torn his hamstring, and would go for scans to determine the extent.

Arthur stated that the club are in a healthy position in terms of their squad, barring Miller and Danny Levi…

He said: “Outside of Danny and Lachie, a couple of key players who are likely going to miss the rest of the season, we’re going to approach this game in the best mindset we can.

“We’ll go full strength, and go full throttle and really get our form back on the board and accelerate into, we’ve got a fortnight off and accelerate into that big final at home.

“The support we’ve had here has been tremendous, and it does make a difference. I know it didn’t for us on the weekend, but I know the boys will be hurting from that, and they’ll repay our loyal fans and members the next time we play here, which is Friday [against Hull FC].”