Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur has offered his verdict after his side’s 50-16 victory over Bradford Bulls.
The Rhinos ran in nine tries to defeat their nearest rivals, with captain Ash Handley scoring three of those in a sublime display.
Maika Sivo, Chris Hankinson, Brodie Croft, James McDonnell, Jarrod O’Connor and Jake Connor also added their names to scoresheet, but despite the half-century, there was plenty that can be improved on.
“The first half was good, Arthur said to Sky Sports. “We built a good foundation. Look, we’ve had a really solid month of footy.
“They played really well. I’m sure the boys will be the first to say when we get in there [the dressing rooms], the second half wasn’t great.
“We set high standards and expectations, so we’ve just got to enjoy the win.”
The Rhinos had a brief period in the second half where they seemed to put the cue on the rack, allowing Bradford to score two of their three tries.
They would quickly rectify that though, scoring three more tries after that to see out the win.
“Like I said, we’ve had a good month of footy. We’re just going to focus on that,” Arthur said about the blip.
“We did what we needed to do in the first half to set the win up. They fought hard. It wasn’t our best half, so we’ll just move on.”
Leeds Rhinos boss addresses duo’s injury concern
The Rhinos were dealt two injury worries in the match with Ryan Hall leaving the field in the first half, before star man Jake Connor looked to pick up a knock in the second.
On Hall’s foot issue, Arthur said: “I don’t think it’s too bad. Maybe a couple of weeks, but he’ll have to have some scans.”
On Connor, who suffered a minor shoulder issue, he added: “He’s had that for a few weeks now, so I thought it might have been just a stinger.”
