Leeds Rhinos don’t need revenge as motivation for today’s (Friday) huge showdown at Wakefield Trinity, coach Brad Arthur says.

Rhinos, the Betfred Super League leaders, have lost their last three visits to DIY Kitchens Stadium, Belle Vue - most recently a bitterly disappointing 24-14 Challenge Cup exit five months ago. Arthur, though, insists he doesn’t regard tonight as payback time.

“We don’t go down that path,” the Leeds boss insisted. “We’ve played them at home since then and beaten them so do they owe us one back? I don’t think teams operate like that.

Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur. Picture by Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com.

“I think both teams are in a really good spot and want to test themselves against other teams at the top - which we both are - and make a good contest of it and learn from it and see what you’ve got to do to be better for next time around, whether you win or lose, when the big games really start to count.”

Rhinos are two points clear of second-placed Trinity and a win in tonight’s Sky-televised clash would leave them within touching distance of a top-two finish. Arthur stressed: “There’s a lot of things to happen with six rounds still to go.

“You can see how tight it is in the competition, but we will be disappointed if we don’t give ourselves every opportunity to be in the top-two. We’ve worked hard to get here, but we are under no illusions it is going to be even harder to stay here and that’s our focus.

“Nothing is going to be easy and we don’t want anything easy. We are going to continue to work hard and try to give ourselves every opportunity.”

Captain Ash Handley, who will return from injury tonight, was man of the match when Leeds Rhinos beat Wakefield Trinity in May. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

Tonight’s game is sold out and Rhinos will need to be much better than they were in their previous road game, a 36-34 defeat at Castleford Tigers three weeks ago. Arthur reckons their form away from home has “definitely improved” this year, but stressed: “The Castleford one we got wrong.

“We didn’t get a lot of the footy bit wrong, I reckon we got our mentality wrong and that sits with me, it’s a reflection of me. Obviously I got something wrong with our mentality during the week for the players to go there and think they could play like that.

“I’ve got to live with that and I am still living with it now. It really hurts, that game, but I feel like outside of that our mentality has been really good for our away trips since we made a couple of subtle changes.

“We actually addressed it and talked about it being just as important to turn up away from home as it is at home. We are looking forward to what will be a packed house and we know we are going to get plenty of support there and we need to go and do what’s best for our supporters too. It will be tight and tough and get heated and there’ll be some great footy played too because both teams are capable of turning it on.”