Leeds Rhinos' boss makes 'big game' admission as top-4 hopes go on the line v 'in-form' Leigh Leopards

Two defeats in their last three games - to top-six rivals St Helens and Wakefield Trinity - have left Rhinos’ hopes of a top-three finish hanging by a threat ahead of this evening’s (Thursday) trip to third-placed Leigh Leopards. Leigh will go five points clear if they win, but a Leeds victory would close the gap to one and put the visitors - who are fifth - right back in the top four hunt with six games remaining.

The leading quartet at the end of the regular season will be guaranteed a home play-off, but Arthur stressed: “We’ve just got to take it each week at a time.” He insisted: “We know if you try and win as many games as possible, you put yourself in the frame. You don’t want to be relying on other results. It is a big game for us this week and we’ll see where we get to after that.”

Rhinos have had a two-week break since being pipped 15-14 at sixth-placed Wakefield. Leigh were in action last Friday when they beat Warrington Wolves 20-16, after trailing by 12 points going into the final 15 minutes.

“They’ve won all their games since the last time we played them so they are in form and they are confident,” Arthur said of today’s opponents. “They have played some big games, some big moments, whereas we had some big moments in our last game and couldn’t quite get the job done. I am relying on the boys to come with that character and fight and we have just got to be a bit better around our tactical discipline at times.”

Rhinos’ 48-30 win when Leigh visited AMT Headingley five rounds ago was the most points scored and conceded by Leeds in 2025, but Arthur isn’t expecting a similarly high-scoring encounter this time. “I think our defence has been good all year,” he said.

“That game was just different circumstances. I went back and watched it and the referee did a pretty good job of just letting it flow and it was a big 10 metres. When it’s a tight 10 metres it’s more of a defensive game, there’s not as much space. It was end to end and the bigger 10 metres opened the game up a bit and made it hard for teams to get back onside. There was a bit more flow in the game, which resulted in the points.

“For whatever reason on that day, both teams had a mentality of ‘you score, we score’ and attack all day. There were lots of tries scored and some good footy played and I am sure both sets of fans were excited about it, but we are thinking it will be a lot tighter this time. We know it’s a different contest, but I feel like we are in a good place, especially defensively.”

Since that game in June, Leigh have gone on a four-match winning run with victories at home to Wigan Warriors, Hull KR and Warrington and away at St Helens. “They have got threats all across the field,” Arthur warned.

“You look at the health of their team too, apart from their one jersey, they are one to 17. That’s a sign of where they are at. We’ve got a couple of blokes still unavailable, but that doesn’t give us any excuses or any less of an opportunity. It is going to be a good test and these are the games you want at this time of the year.”