Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur confirms Brodie Croft announcement plan, assesses loss v Wigan Warriors

Arthur was speaking after his side were beaten 24-4 at Wigan Warriors on Friday night. As previously reported by the Yorkshire Evening Post, Croft is understood to have agreed a big-money deal with Warrington Wolves to begin when his Leeds contract expires this autumn.

Rhinos will confirm his impending departure next week, allowing Warrington to announce the signing. Speculation about Croft dominated the build-up to the game at Wigan and in his post-match press conference, Arthur said: “We said this week we just want to focus on the game and we'll push it to next week. We’ll get over the weekend or early in the week and obviously there will be an announcement of what's happening there.”

The loss at Wigan ended a five-game winning run and left Leeds second in Betfred Super League, two points behind St Helens. Reflecting on Rhinos’ third defeat of the league season, Arthur said: “I thought our team identity was okay around our physicality and effort.

“I thought we tried really hard and were nice and physical, but the rest of our game - the rest of how we want to play - we just didn't own. We gave away some penalties and some errors, whereas they completed 91 per cent. They defended their line strongly and there were just some big moments - they score off two kicks and an interception and we fumbled the ball over the line twice.”

Having trailed 16-0 at half-time, Arthur added: “I felt we showed better composure in the second half. There's plenty of lessons we can take away from that; the main thing for me is around our team identity and it was there.

“It would have been nice to have been on top of our game to see how we would have stood up against them, but we'll have to wait for another time. The second half was good and was how we should have been in the first half. There were a couple of moments in the first half that we just didn't own and they did.”