Brad Arthur has given his opinion on the Super League experience after his first week in charge of Leeds Rhinos.
He was announced as head coach until the end of the season, replacing Rohan Smith and interim coach Chev Walker.
Arthur has never played or coached in the UK before.
He has extensive head coaching experience, taking charge of the Parramatta Eels over 250 times across 12 seasons in NRL, but the move to the Northern Hemisphere is one he hasn’t made previous to this move to Leeds.
He has also held roles with Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Melbourne Storm, Cairns Brothers and Batesman Bay Tigers in Australia.
Now, he’s tasked with the tricky job of achieving a top-six finish with Leeds in Super League – and, therefore, a place in the playoffs.
Brad Arthur gives his verdict on Super League after first week in Leeds Rhinos job
Credit: Imago Images
Speaking about his first game coaching in the UK, he said, in the post-match press conference for Leeds Rhinos’ defeat to Hull KR: “Yeah, I loved it. It was different.
“You know, I was up pretty high. But the whole week, I’ve really enjoyed the experience. The club has bent over backwards for me and the players and the staff to make the transition smooth.
“You can see that they’re wanting to buy in and they tried to do what we set out to do and we talked about doing. And then the support from our fans today was great.
“It was nice and loud and hopefully they’ve seen enough in them to want to come back and watch them again but we’ve already spoken to the boys about it.
“They want to see us try it but they want to see us win. They want to see us try it but they want to see us win. We put ourselves in a position where we’re close enough, but close enough is not going to be good enough.”
He’ll be looking to get his first win for Leeds Rhinos on a visit to Huddersfield Giants’ John Smith’s Stadium next week.
