Horrific stats, who's to blame, player of the year and injury jinx: Leeds Rhinos talking points

Approaching the half-way stage in Betfred Super League, Rhinos are seventh on the table and in a fight just to qualify for the play-offs. Saturday’s visit of Castleford Tigers begins a quartet of successive games against the bottom four so Leeds have an opportunity to turn things around, but a big improvement will be needed. Here’s five talking points.

1: Horrific stats

Rhinos’ team stats against Saints made depressing reading and it’s clear where the problems lie. They had 42 per cent of possession, completed only 17 sets (68 per cent) to Saints’ 32 (96 per cent), made 15 errors and missed 45 tackles. In 80 minutes, Rhinos played the ball only six times in their opponents’ 20 metre area, so it’s actually quite impressive they managed to score two tries.

Though Rhinos defend well for long spells, their ‘passive’ defence - not getting up into the face of the opposition - isn’t working and, in most games, the pack tends to get dominated. Leeds don’t spend enough time near the opposition’s line and make far too many errors with the ball, undoing whatever good work has been put in.

For example, in each of the past two games, they have conceded a vital try from a mistake by their scrum-half - a different one on each occasion - on the first tackle near the opposition’s line. Worryingly, in the final quarter last Friday it looked like Rhinos had thrown in the towel, which hadn’t been the case in previous games.

2: Who’s to blame?

The couple of tries they scored at Saints showed what Rhinos are capable of. The first, by Ash Handley, was a terrific touchdown and proved Leeds can play good rugby when they get their game together.

Rhinos led in six of the seven games they’ve lost this season and they opened the scoring in five of the defeats, including all three meetings with Saints. This isn’t a hopeless team, it’s a side made up of good players who, individually and collectively, aren’t playing well.

The coach hasn’t got the best out of his troops and some of his key tactics haven’t worked. The fans are growing increasingly frustrated and inevitably, if things don’t improve, Rohan Smith will pay the price at some point.

But equally, players must take their share of the blame. They are better than they showed against Saints and if they play closer to their potential, results will improve. It shouldn’t take a change of team boss to bring that about; coaches can refine and add things, but maintaining personal standards is a player’s responsibility.

3: Bad luck and trouble

Rhinos have had an incredible run of bad luck in their outside-backs. On-loan Warrington Wolves winger Matty Russell, who was the latest victim on his debut against St Helens, has been especially unfortunate.

The stint at Leeds is his second loan spell this year, having previously been at Hull FC. That ended when he suffered a torn pectoral muscle in his second appearance. Russell looked good in last week’s game before suffering a leg injury and failing a head injury assessment.

He is automatically ruled out of Saturday’s derby and has joined fellow outside-backs David Fusitu’a (knee), Paul Momirovski (ankle), Max Simpson (knee), Alfie Edgell (ankle) and Riley Lumb (hamstring) on the casualty list. Jack Smith, who has yet to play for the first team but was in the squad for the trip to Catalans Dragons a couple of weeks ago, is also ruled out with a shoulder problem.

4: Mixed fortunes

Ash Handley hasn’t been immune from the injury jinx, having missed three matches with damaged ribs, but if Leeds’ player of the season award was being handed out now he would surely get it.

The left-winger is Rhinos’ most consistent player. He is the club’s top try scorer, with eight - most of them spectacular - and his strong carries have been equally impressive.

The fact Luis Roberts has started as a winger nine times this year, only one fewer than Handley, highlights Rhinos’ injury problems in that role. The 22-year-old is still a Super League rookie and more of a specialist centre, but has had to fill in one place further out - as he did against Saints after Russell was hurt.

Roberts has copped some criticism from fans. He has made mistakes, including a costly knock-on last weekend, but also shown some positive signs. He is obviously going to get targeted and ideally, after 12 starts this term, would be taken out of the firing line for a spell, but injuries have meant he has had to persist.

5: Lachie Miller

It hasn’t been an easy first season in Super League for Rhinos full-back Lachie Miller whose form has tended to vary from outstanding to poor with nothing in between. Moving from the Australian game to England is never easy and more experienced players than Miller have taken a season or so to settle in.

He’s still relatively new to the 13-a-side game and his rugby union sevens background shows, but - despite some mistakes - there are signs Leeds do have a decent player on their hands and he could still prove a good acquisition. If/when Edgell recovers from his knock, it would be interesting to see him given a run at full-back, possibly with Miller at centre or on a wing.