Former Man of Steel Brodie Croft reckons Leeds Rhinos are capable of contesting finals and semi-finals under coach Brad Arthur.
After back-to-back eighth-place finishes, Rhinos go into Thursday’s visit of leaders Hull KR sitting fourth in the Betfred Super League table and a win would move them level in points with Wigan Warriors, who are second.
Rhinos celebrated the news Arthur is staying at the club next year by thrashing Castleford Tigers 64-6 last Saturday and Croft – now in his second season at Leeds – said the style of rugby they are playing is “a joy to be part of”.
“Brad has created a really good winning culture here at the club,” the ex-Salford Red Devils stand-off said.
“We come into every game expecting that – or more so expecting a performance and hopefully the result will come on the back of that. Fortunately, they have been and hopefully they keep doing that going forward.”
Croft insisted: “The boys have a lot of confidence in the systems Brad has brought in to play.
“Everyone has bought into it and you can see that from the way we are playing, particularly defensively.
“Our attack has been playing off the back of that. It is a real joy to be a part of and hopefully we can keep pushing in the big games coming up at the back end of the season.”
That starts on Thursday and Croft stressed: “We are under no illusion how big the game is. We are back at home against KR who have been playing some quality footy all year.
“[Last week] was a good lead up to that and we will be raring to go. We would love to get second spot and a home [semi-] final – that would be ideal.”
Leeds Rhinos riding high in confidence
Croft, who scored two of Rhinos’ 11 tries, feels the win at Castleford showed what they are now about as a team.
“It was a very professional performance,” he reflected. “I thought we had some real good physicality, particularly in that first half and that laid a pathway for us to play some nice expansive footy on the back of it.
“We didn’t push it too much, as you can sometimes in those types of games, but we did enough to keep the scoreboard ticking, which is always nice.”
Though most of Leeds’ tries were scored by backs, Croft credited the pack for setting the platform.
“That was probably one of the most pleasing things, seeing the boys who stepped up – like Presley Cassell and Ben Littlewood,” he noted.
“They were really big for us and it was good to get some minutes into them and for them to get some experience.”
