How '3 bigs' policy paid off for Leeds Rhinos as Tom Holroyd continues to impress
One of Leeds Rhinos’ unsung heroes has been praised by coach Brad Arthur.
Stand-off Brodie Croft grabbed the headlines with four tries in Rhinos’ 56-22 win at Huddersfield Giants, taking him to 10 in seven regular-season games. He is now only three behind competition top scorer and back-to-back Betfred Super League player of the month Maika Sivo, who crossed once.
Arthur was pleased with Croft’s attacking display, but also hailed Tom Holroyd, one of three props in the starting 13, alongside Cooper Jenkins and Keenan Palasia, who was at loose-forward. “He started really strong,” Arthur said of Holroyd, whose powerful run set up Leeds’ second try for hooker Jarrod O’Connor.
“We started with three bigs, which was tactical - they are a big team and we had to match them, then we could bring all our footy on after 15-20 minutes. But with a few stoppages early those big boys managed to get 25-30 minutes before I had to change them, then you can bring on blokes like Cameron [Smith] with a bit of footwork and football about him. The starting middles did a really good job for us.”
Holroyd is ever-present so far this season and Arthur said: “[He has been] very good, he has put a lot of time into his game; not just the physical part, but the football part of it.
“I think he is learning his role better, he knows his job and he has put a lot of work into his attack. You can see the benefit of it.”