Latest Leeds Rhinos talking points: Jake Connor for England and can you have too many good players?

Rhinos are third in the Betfred Super League table and will travel to St Helens on Friday searching for a sixth successive win. The squad is virtually fully-fit and Leeds played their best rugby of the year in last Saturday’s 36-12 win against Warrington Wolves. Here’s five talking points.

1: A year on from Rohan Smith.

Thursday will be a year since Rohan Smith’s time as Leeds Rhinos coach came to an end. The Aussie left the club “by mutual consent” four days after an embarrassing 18-10 loss to Hull FC, played in a toxic atmosphere - certainly among the Leeds fans - at MKM Stadium.

Rhinos were seventh in the table, but the team lacked consistency and weren’t enjoyable to watch, key players were picking up injuries on a regular basis and some of the tactics being used had fans scratching their heads.

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It wasn’t all Smith’s fault and the anger directed at him was unfair, but there’s no doubt the team - and club - is in better shape 12 months on. Ian Blease’s appointment as sporting director nine days before Smith left was another key change and Rhinos were fortunate the right man, Brad Arthur, was available to take over as coach.

It didn’t happen overnight, but since June 19, 2024, the quality of the squad has improved, performances have got better and more consistent and results are on the up. Having faced only one of the top-eight away from home in the first half of the campaign, Rhinos will have to be very good to stay in third spot, but at the moment they are playing like a team capable of challenging for honours and everyone associated with the club, on and off the field, is happier as a consequence.

2: Jake Connor for Man of Steel.

In April, Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin called for a rethink over the method for selecting Man of Steel. Rhinos’ Jake Connor was heading the leaderboard, but Wilkin felt he wasn’t in the top five or six players in the competition.

A couple of months on, he’d struggle to make the same claim. Connor is still the man to catch and right now, there’s little doubt he is the best player in Super League. Connor’s reputation precedes him, but nobody in Rhinos’ camp has a bad word to say about him, the fans have been won over and he is tormenting opposing defences week after week, in a fashion no Leeds player has done since Iestyn Harris a quarter of a century ago. If that continues, there’s a real chance Connor could be the 2025 Man of Steel and it won’t be long before he starts to seriously come into the England Ashes conversation. Wouldn’t that be something?

3: Is it possible to have too many good players?

Co-captain Cameron Smith hasn’t started any of his four games since returning from long-term injury. That can’t be easy for him and in the past other players haven’t taken such setbacks well, but Smith has been in good form off the bench, culminating in his brace of tries against Warrington which got Leeds on top in the game. With 19 of his top 20 squad fit and available and everyone playing well, Arthur is having to select in-form players on the bench or leave them out of the team altogether.

Andy Ackers and Cooper Jenkins both played in the reserves last weekend alongside Alfie Edgell and Jack Sinfield, who deserve to be getting first team rugby. Injuries are inevitable - and often seem to occur at once - so it won’t last, but at the moment, having so many available players is a real test of Arthur’s man-management expertise and the spirit in the squad. So far, Rhinos look good on both counts.

4: Pitch perfect.

It’s not difficult to imagine the groundstaff’s reaction when they were told “we’re going to invite fans to have a disco on the pitch after the Warrington game”. It wouldn’t have worked if the weather had been poor or Rhinos lost the match, but the sun shone, so did the team and a good time was had by all.

Hundreds of fans took a rare opportunity to walk, dance or chuck a ball about on AMT Headingley’s hallowed turf and as an event the first Party on the Pitch really worked. Obviously a winning run helps, but a strong bond seems to be developing between the team and fans and, at the moment, there is a genuine feel-good factor around the club.

5: Golding effort.

Groundsman Ryan Golding and his team deserve a lot of credit, after Headingley staged four 80-minute games, pre-match and half-time entertainment and the on-field party in the space of 27 hours over the weekend. The effort involved paid off as Rhinos’ teams turned on the style.

Before the men’s Super League game, Rhinos’ reserves played some outstanding rugby to beat Warrington’s second string 44-12. Leeds had some experienced players in their 17, but the quality of teenagers in their ranks is outstanding.

In Women’s Super League, Rhinos’ 110-0 win over Warrington set a couple of Leeds records - for highest score and winning margin - and the under-19s crushed the same opposition 74-4 in the curtain-raiser. That’s not ideal for the female game as a whole, but it meant the aggregate score over the quartet of matches was Leeds Rhinos 264, Warrington Wolves 28. A decent effort, effort against a fellow Grade-A club.