Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur admitted he was shocked and disappointed by his side’s lack of discipline in their loss to Hull FC on Sunday afternoon.
The Rhinos lost 24-16 on the day as they fell to their second straight defeat in all competitions and missed the chance to keep up with the pace at the top of the Super League table.
Here’s everything Brad Arthur had to say in his post-match press conference.
Can you give your assessment of that game please?
It’s a reality check isn’t it. We’re not going as good as we think we are. Some of the ill-discipline is not what I want our club to be about and be part of. It’s pretty embarrassing some of the discipline in the second half. How many blokes want to talk to the referee instead of just worrying about doing their own job? Not good enough.
Has it shocked you?
Yeah. It’s disappointed me, really disappointed me.
What’s been said at full-time?
Just that.
How does this team end up going so far away from what their core principles are?
Yeah, I don’t know. We’ll need to get to the bottom of it and find that out on Tuesday. It’s nothing like we practice or say we want to be, the last two weeks.
What’s the big question you’ll be asking?
Well, why? What’s changed? We went well in Vegas so have we got ahead of ourselves and think we’re going better than what we actually are? Not good enough.
Are you questioning character as well?
No, I’m not going to go that far and question character. I just think we need to make some better choices.
Who do you look to?
It starts with me first. From there, it’s the senior players.
How do you rebuild over the next week?
We’ve got to come in, do our review and be honest with it, accept responsibility, accountability and do something about it. It’s alright saying what we’re going to do about it, but we have to go and do it.
Was there a point in that game where it got out of control?
No, I feel like we clawed it back at the back end of the first half and we didn’t let the frustration boil over. But, in the second half, we talked about it at half-time, we knew they were going to throw everything at us and we couldn’t let it lead to frustration but we did. We got frustrated. I’ve said this a bit about this team and our losses look the same, on the back of frustration.
How frustrating is that for you, given the potential these players have?
It’s my job to now fix that isn’t it. It’s round five so we’ve got plenty of time. We can’t be using that reason or excuse for too long. We need to fix it now.
You have fit players that aren’t playing, will you consider changes?
I need to go back and have a look at the game again but they need to understand that the choices I make, there’ll be consequences. I’m not going to say anything rash or emotional. Let it settle a little bit, go and look at it and make some decisions based on what sort of team we want to be.
Was Ryan Hall rested?
He wasn’t rested, he had an injection in his knee and he’s been carrying a meniscus. He just needed to have a week off.
There were three dissent penalties…
Yeah, I’m not happy about that. Not at all. It’s not a good reflection. We’ve worked so hard to get ourselves in a good place with that discipline and not be known for that. But, in the space of 40 minutes you can undo it, can’t you? We have some work to do there.
The six agains in the game seemed to have no consistency or fluidity, is that an opinion you share?
I’m not going to sit here and blame anyone else but ourselves. As far as I’m concerned anything that happened out there, we brought upon ourselves and deserved. It’s the way the game’s going and you have to be on board and disciplined around it or you’ll pay the price. We paid the price today.
Are the players on board?
Yeah, we were disappointed with the way the game was refereed last week because it was back to how it was in ’25. They knew there was going to be a change from the referees and make sure they got it right like they did in the first couple of rounds. It’s got nothing to do with the referee, this performance.
