Boss Brad Arthur highlighted Ash Handley’s World Cup credentials after the Leeds Rhinos skipper’s Magic Weekend hat-trick.

The centre was outstanding in Rhinos’ 50-16 defeat of Bradford Bulls at Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, setting up two tries - including a record-breaker for winger Maika Sivo - as well as crossing three times himself. “I think he’s one of the first guys I’d be picking for the team,” Arthur said of Handley’s prospects of playing for England at this autumn’s global tournament.

“He is a great leader, he carries the ball strong out of back field, he has got pace, he can beat a person, he can set up Maika and he can finish. What more do you want from a centre?

“Then you throw his defensive qualities in; he doesn’t guess on defence, he makes all his decisions, he is strong in his tackle and he has got the complete game for me at the moment. He drives really high standards, you can see he just wants to win.”

Leeds Rhinos captain Ash Handley celebrates scoring one of his hat-trick of tries in the Magic Weekend win against Bradford Bulls. Picture by Olly Hassell/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Leeds Rhinos captain Ash Handley celebrates scoring one of his hat-trick of tries in the Magic Weekend win against Bradford Bulls. Picture by Olly Hassell/SWpix.com.

Handley was the provider when Sivo extended his try-scoring run to 10 games, which is a club best in Betfred Super League, beating Paul Sterling’s achievement 29 years ago. Handley could have scored himself and in his post-match press conference Arthur said: “Every week he does the same for us.

“It was very unselfish of him to give Maika a try to break that record, but they have got a really good combination there. They are really good defensively and they don’t get much wrong together.

“Ash’s leadership goes from strength to strength. With about eight minutes to go he pulled the group in and tried to get them together - he talked about a drill we do at training and tried to get that mentality just to make sure we finished the game nice and hard.”

Leeds Rhinos' Maika Sivo, right, with teammate Keenan Palasia after the Magic Weekend win against Bradford Bulls at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Liverpool. Picture by Callum Pilkington/SWpix.com.

The coach also hailed Sivo who now has 30 gries for the season, 28 of those in Super League. “It hadn’t been talked about, but everyone was aware of it,” Arthur said of the record. “It just shows how much Maika means to the group.

“It’s a big thing for our club and this group, they are all really connected, you can see they have got a fair bit of belief and they want to play for each other. That is hard to build and harder to keep so we need to keep working hard.”

Sivo was pleased with the record, but stressed: “I always say, at the end of the day I am just doing my job as a winger. My job is to score tries.” The Fijian powerhouse insisted he didn’t know Handley was going to give him the ball. “I thought he was going to go himself,” he said. “But I am always ready for him and I am glad he passed me the ball.”

Chris Hankinson, who has been playing in the second-row, is hot on Sivo’s heels after extending his try-scoring run to six games. “He is so valuable for the team,” Arthur said of the number 14 who joined Leeds from Salford Red Devils late last season.

“He does a really good job. It was one of the toughest conversations I had to have in pre-season about his jersey number, but whatever’s best for the team he does.”