Leeds Rhinos remain one victory from the Grand Final despite ending the regular season with successive defeats, coach Brad Arthur has stressed.
Their second-place finish in the Betfred Super League gives Leeds a bye through the opening round of the play-offs and a home semi-final on Friday, September 25. Victory there would send them to Old Trafford.
Speaking post-match, Leeds boss Arthur said: “Really, we are 80 minutes away from Old Trafford, aren’t we? That’s what we’ve got to focus on. We know we are going to be in week two [of the play-offs] and we’ve got to get it right. There was plenty of fight and we tried hard, we just didn’t nail some execution.”
The Rhinos secured their best league placing since 2017 after an impressive campaign, although their home form dipped during the closing weeks of the regular season.
Friday’s 18-12 defeat by Hull FC was their third consecutive loss at AMT Headingley, having won their first 10 matches there this season. It followed a 40-8 home defeat by Wigan Warriors the previous Saturday.
Leeds created numerous opportunities against Hull, but Arthur accepted their skill and execution had fallen short. He nevertheless insisted the recent results did not diminish the progress made over the wider campaign.
“Overall it has been a really good season, we can’t go away from that,” he said.
The Rhinos boss believes the break before the semi-final will provide enough time for his Leeds squad to recover and prepare for the decisive fixture.
He said: “Our last couple of weeks haven’t been great, but 14 days isn’t going to count for anything really – it’s what we do in two weeks’ time. We have five or six sessions leading into the game so we’ve got plenty of time to recover and get ready and make sure everyone knows what their job is.”
Dissecting Leeds Rhinos v Wigan Warriors, St Helens miss the six and Wakefield make statement – Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show
