Coach Brad Arthur 'happy' for ex-Leeds Rhinos star James Bentley ahead of milestone with Warrington Wolves
Rhinos coach Brad Arthur says he is “happy” to see Leeds old boy James Bentley playing well and enjoying himself with tomorrow’s opponents Warrington Wolves.
Bentley joined Warrington in pre-season after being released by Rhinos last October, just months into a contract which was due to run until the end of next year. He didn’t feature in his new side’s 26-22 defeat at AMT Headingley in March, but is set to make his 200th career appearance against his hometown club in Betfred Super League round 15.
The 28-year-old joined Rhinos from St Helens ahead of the 2022 season and played 81 times before his surprise departure, which the club said was “due to a personal matter”. Warrington team boss Sam Burgess has described Bentley’s contribution this year as “awesome” and Arthur insisted he is pleased to see him in good form.
“From my dealings with him, he is all about effort and physicality,” Arthur stated. “He competes hard and he’s a threat, he will skip across the field and come up with an offload - he is doing all the same things for those guys. You can see he is enjoying himself and playing well so I am happy for him.”
Rhinos forward Cameron Smith is also set to reach a milestone tomorrow when he makes his 200th career appearance. His total so far includes 182 games for Leeds, plus five on dual-registeration with Featherstone Rovers, 11 as a loan player at Bradford Bulls and one for England Knights.
Meanwhile, Arthur has hailed scrum-half Jake Connor who was this week called into England’s performance squad ahead of the forthcoming World Cup. The reigning Man of Steel kicked eight goals from as many attempts, several of them off the sidelines, in Rhinos’ 48-24 win at Toulouse Olympique last Friday.
That haul took his tally in Betfred Super league this year to 72, at a success rate of 82.75 per cent and he is also the competition’s leading points scorer, with 144. “I think he did it the same last year,” Arthur said of the talismanic half-back.
“I think we are just probably taking more notice of it now. He has come up with some big plays and big goal kicks, like the one off the left sideline against St Helens to take us to eight points in front with a couple of minutes to go.
“That eight-point buffer makes a massive difference to mindset and what the opposition need to do to try and win from there and how we can control the game with a couple of minutes to go. Those big moments, Jake is getting better and better at nailing them and we appreciate it.”