Last night, Leeds downed Wakefield in a must win West Yorkshire derby.
The Rhinos went into the game having lost last week to Salford which saw them slip back into 10th. That coupled with a win for Toulouse trimmed their safety net between them and regelation. However, last night’s win allowed them to again ease away from the dreaded 12th spot.
It was also a big night as Zak Hardaker made his second home debut for the club 11 years after his first whilst new boss Rohan Smith masterminded his first win in his inaugural Headingley appearance as coach.
He made some bold decisions like moving the aforementioned Hardaker to fullback as Richie Myler switched to the halves. That allowed Kruise Leeming to return to his more natural role at nine as Brad Dwyer dropped to the bench for impact.
However, in another curious decision, Dwyer played 10 minutes last night. The hooker came on for Leeming in the second half only to be withdrawn 10 minutes later as Leeds closed in on the win.
Intriguingly, Dwyer has been linked with a move away from Headingley at the end of the season and on Thursday Sky Sports’ Jenna Brooks claimed he could join Champions St Helens following the retirement of James Roby.
Just 24 hours later, he was only receiving 10 minutes of game time for his current team.
After the game, Smith explained the hooker’s short stint making no connection to the St Helens rumour nor any injury. Instead, he suggested it was merely tactical: “Kruise had an outstanding game at dummyhalf, we put Brad on there to speed the game up which he did with four or five good carries. The plan was always to bring back Kruise at the back end.”