Man of Steel contender Jake Connor has “a chance” of returning for Leeds Rhinos’ final game of the regular season at Wigan Warriors next week, coach Brad Arthur says.
Rhinos were without Connor for the first time in 2025 when they slumped to a shock 16-8 home defeat by Catalans Dragons yesterday (Thursday).
That ended a five-game winning run and left Leeds’ top-four hopes hanging in the balance ahead of this evening’s huge clash between Leigh Leopards and St Helens.
A Leigh win would lift them above Rhinos into third place on the Betfred Super League leader, but guarantee a home semi-final for Leeds with St Helens four points behind the AMT Headingley outfit going into round 27.
Victory for Saints would keep Rhinos third, but mean Leigh and Saints could both overtake them if they beat Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers respectively next week and Arthur’s side lose at Wigan.
Rhinos clearly missed scrum-half Connor, who has a rib injury, as they struggled to break down a determined Catalans defence. Their two tries came in the final quarter and stand-in kicker Lachie Miller missed both conversions.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Arthur refused to write off Connor for next week.
Leeds Rhinos’ Brad Arthur on Jake Connor
He said: “It’s a day to day proposition with him. He will do everything possible to try and get out there. It’s an eight-day turn around so he has a chance.”
Arthur felt Rhinos lacked patience in Thursday’s defeat and admitted: “Jake has been nice and composed, especially over the last five or six weeks.
“He has grown into the role really well, but I don’t think that should be an excuse for us. There were some guys in the team who tried way too hard to make things happen, instead of letting it happen and working at it.”
AMT Headingley hasn’t staged a play-off since 2017 and Arthur made no attempt to hide his dismay at the result.
Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here.
Catalans are the only Super League team Leeds haven’t beaten this year and he stated: “We had an opportunity and we’ve let it go, which is disappointing.
“The club and everyone deserves better, but unfortunately we can’t do anything about it right now. The only thing we can do is how we respond.
“I am going to put it down to just a bad night for us, that progressively got worse as it went on. We can’t dwell on it or look at it for too long, we have got to move on to what’s coming next.”
