Coach's praise for 'cool' Brodie Croft, but Leeds Rhinos 'very average' in win v London Broncos

Against a team who have won just once this season, Rhinos were 16-10 down at half-time and trailed until 10 minutes from time when Rhyse Martin sliced through for a try which he also converted. Croft then booted them to victory with the decisive drop goal three minutes into extra-time.

“He is cool, he is good under pressure and he has shown that all year,” Walker said f the former Man of Steel. “Even in times when we haven’t been great he has been very consistent in his game. If one player was going to be able to stay cool in that [situation] it was Brodie.”

It was Rhinos’ second win in as many games under Walker and fellow interim-boss Scott Grix since Rohan Smith left the club last month, but he admitted: “I didn’t enjoy that at all”. Speaking in his post-match press conference, Walker said: “I thought it was a scruffy game. It was a game about spirit and they were more spirited, which is sad, compared with the game before.

“We strung a couple of plays together in sequence at the end to win it, but we didn’t do enough consistently well. We were very average in most things.

“The week [in training] was good, but the last message was ‘well done is better than well said’. There was very little atmosphere and we went along with it.

“We played in second gear in the first half. In the second half there was a bit more commitment, but then we started making more errors than we did in the first half.”

He added: “The rucks were slow, but I am not blaming the referee there. Why would you penalise it if we are just laid there? If you commit to your carry and fight to play the ball you might get one, but you’re not going to get given it if you are just laid there. That’s on us, the ruck was slow because we allowed it to be.”

Rhinos are closing in on a new head-coach, with Australian Brad Arthur being linked with the role on a short-term deal until the end of this season. The caretakers could remain in charge for Thursday’s game at Warrington Wolves, but Walker stressed: “There’s only them [the players] who can do it, they have to find a way to not go through what they’ve just gone through again.

“It is on them to pull together and do that themselves. All we can do is encourage them to keep buying in and tapping into what they are good at and what works for them.”

Rhinos finished the game with both centres off the field. Walker said it was “too early” for a firm prognosis on Harry Newman who was hurt in the final moments, but Paul Momirovski was “fine” after passing a head injury assessment.