In his last game as Leeds interim coach, Rhinos legend Jamie Jones-Buchanan oversaw a superb win over the league’s form team Hull KR.
Leeds managed to nil one of the best attacking teams in the league with a brilliant 12-0 win over the Robins.
After the game, Buchanan was delighted with his side’s performance: “I’m over the moon. I’ve been talking about pride in our performances for a few weeks now. I’ve seen what’s going on underneath the iceberg but it’s always hard to prove that without results and it’s a results based industry.
“But they’ve got there tonight through sheer effort.”
The win was made all the more impressive by Leeds’ current difficulties.
The Rhinos were down to 19 available players this week and even lost new signing Zak Hardaker after the fullback suffered a seizure on Tuesday.
On the back of all that, Buchanan felt the win was even more impressive: “The week we’ve had you know, Wednesday was one of the hardest days I’ve had in a long time. My head was all over because it was coming from a multitude of different direction and the fact it didn’t derail them shows a great degree of mental toughness from our boys.
“What’s pleased me is the character that’s been shown by some of these players.”
He believes the squad is now ready for Rohan Smith’s arrival as the new Leeds Head Coach looks to be the catalyst for success at Headingley. Buchanan also explained which coaches have had the biggest impact on his approach in his time as interim boss: “Rohan’s just text me and I’ve text him back to say ‘they’re all yours’ and they’re ready. I’ve been trying to build that bedrock so he can plant any seeds that he wants, but I know what I’ve been trying to do with them is what I was been taught by Tony Smith back in the day and understanding what a good culture looks like and feels like and the work that needs to be invested.
“A lot of our systems have come from Brian McDermott. That’s what we do, we pull a mosaic of what we’ve learnt together and some of it is some crazy ideas of my own which keeps the boys laughing.
“For now I’ll leave it to Rohan. He’ll be outstanding.”
The former Leeds backrower also singled out some of his senior players as being key to the win over the high flying Robins including Blake Austin: “Blake has punched through. He struggled to get into a flow a few weeks back and a player like that and you look to him to be the talisman and steer the team around.
“He’s been one of our standout senior players. He’s stood up and he’s done it tough.”
There was also praise for Bodene Thompson who perhaps produced his best Leeds performance tonight: “When you give blokes incentive, they’ll pull up trees for you and Bodene has been outstanding. He’s a good professional anyway and he’s had a few things to deal with but these last two weeks he’s been outstanding.
“When you look at the sheet, the numbers he’s been turning out we’ve made a fuss of it. When you reward people with gratitude they’ll keep turning it out.”
Thompson and his fellow forwards did well tonight and they could be boosted by the welcome return of Tom Holroyd in their next game along with a few others. Despite this Buchanan still wanted to praise the young men who have stepped up in their absence: “He [Holroyd] has had a few problems with his groin and his calf. When you start winning everyone wants to be a part of it. We need Tommy back, our forwards on the pitch and training field have had to pick up a lot of slack.
“Morgan Gannon is a baby and he’s playing like a professional every week. Young Max Simpson looked like he’d rolled out of Vietnam last week and this week we thought we might be able to give him a rest but you can’t because Zak had an issue during the week.
“Young Jack Sinfield has come up with some trysavers you know. So we need Tom Holroyd and a few players back. We have a two weeks so there could be four or five returns.”
Perhaps one of the players Leeds could have back in the fold is Zak Hardaker who could make his second Leeds debut against Salford in two weeks’ time if deemed healthy after his seizure.
Of Hardaker, Buchanan said: “He’s alright. I don’t think he’s here tonight. He’s staying at home resting. He had some tests in Manchester yesterday and he was gutted he couldn’t play.
“He just needs looking after for a multitude of reasons. When he comes back he’ll be good because we’ll look after him.
“Zak has never been shy of talking about some of his challenges. There’s triggers with him. When he’s happy he’s fine and he’s got a lot of mates here to make him happy.”