Leeds Rhinos fans defend Maika Sivo, hail win v Wakefield Trinity and heap praise on Ash Handley

Three yellow cards, including one to hat-trick star Maika Sivo, made it a tough 80 minutes for Rhinos, but they had a string of outstanding performances against a resilient Trinity outfit. Our panel are split over man of the match, but all agree it was another impressive effort by Leeds who go into this weekend’s Challenge Cup semi-final break as league leaders. Here’s what they made of Rhinos’ fifth successive win.

DAVID MUHL

You just can’t stop him, can you? What a try machine he is - another hat-trick from Maika Sivo. There has been a lot of chatter on social media about whether he should have got a red card rather than a yellow, a view backed by the Wakefield coach Daryl Powell. My view, for what it’s worth, is the referee got it right. The Wakefield player was going down when he hit him.

It’s no coincidence Sivo is scoring tries for fun when he has, in my opinion, the best centre in the league inside him. Ash Handley is playing the best rugby of his career, his flick pass for Sivo’s 15th try of the season was sublime.

Although Handley got the official man of the match, mine was Jake Connor. He was involved in everything that was good for Leeds and his goal kicking was fabulous. The highlight of the game was Brodie Croft’s late try off a dream of a kick by Jarrod O’Connor.

Sivo is rightly getting all the plaudits for his try scoring, but Brodie isn’t far behind. With only 10 rounds gone they are ahead of last year’s top scorers, Ryan Hall with 13 and Harry Newman on 12. Cam Smith continued his good form and showed his new employers what a great player they are getting next year.

The thing that pleases me most this season is we are playing entertaining rugby. In my almost 60 years of watching Leeds, the most successful teams have been the ones that are prepared to throw the ball around and can score from anywhere on the field.

It’s Wigan away next and with us on form and Wigan struggling, on paper this looks like an easy win, but I have made that M62 trip too many times to think that is guaranteed. We will have to be on top form to continue our winning streak and maintain our position at the top of the table.

IAIN SHARP

While a game taking nearly two hours to complete isn’t desirable, the floodlight failure at Wakefield last time Leeds played them was preferable to the long delay for treatment to Cam Scott. The subsequent news he was okay was a relief to everyone.

The game was subject to a few other influences on time, Chris Kendall once again demonstrating that physics is something that merely happens to other people. Wakefield’s opening score was so far forward it landed in a different postcode. Tom ‘can I have that again, but from the camera on that satellite in geostationary orbit 35 000km away?’ Grant took slightly longer than the running time of the film Ben Hur to still make an inconclusive verdict.

While much continues to be lauded about Maika ‘he scores every week’ Sivo, inside every great winger is a great centre to back him up and Ash Handley seems to have made the conversion from scorer to provider following his move inside. His two tip passes to put

Sivo in were sublime and probably worth the admission money alone.

A tricky opponent dealt with, still top of the league - although don’t get your hopes up, it means little at the moment - and now a week off to recuperate. Like the lengthening spring days, things are looking bright and sunny.

BECKY OXLEY

What a victory for us, especially considering we received three yellow cards during the match and Wakey kept us on our toes for 60 minutes. Wakefield were never going to be easy opponents, but I believe the fact they eliminated us from the Challenge Cup served as motivation for us to secure the win.

The Rhinos displayed some impressive skills. The quick hand movements to pass the ball to Maika Sivo are electrifying. It amazes me every time - the defence has no chance to intercept before the ball is out and Sivo crosses the line. Another standout play was Jarrod O'Connor’s grubber kick, which landed perfectly in Brodie Croft’s hands due to a well-timed maneuver.

There were many other notable moments in the game and it’s encouraging to see how cohesively the team is working together. They always provide that moment of magic when we need it most. Even when Wakey were closing in on us with the score, we had that extra something to push the score out of Wakefield’s reach once more.

After 10 matches, we find ourselves at the top of the table. It has been 11 seasons since we last held this position. Brad Arthur has got us in the best place we’ve been in a long time, and it’s wonderful to witness the team collaborating and playing some exceptional rugby.

ALEX SHARP

It was a great contest against Wakefield, but Leeds were their own enemy with three sin-bins in the 80 minutes of rugby. I always had hope, even when we were a man or two down, as Wakefield have not beaten anyone in the top-six this year in the league.

I was proved right when we had 12 players on the field and Brodie Croft went over to extend the lead. The big talking point was Maika Sivo’s tackle on Josh Rourke and should he have seen red? Personally, I don’t think so as Rourke was bending down. Sivo scored another hat-trick and people are starting to think he might break the Super League record of 40 tries in a season.

A special mention to Croft again, I don't think he's getting the recognition he deserves. He has scored in every game he has played this season, apart from the Bradford game in which he had a try involvement with an assist. This must be Man Of Steel form. Going forward, I'm going to give a three, two, one to players from each game for Leeds with three being the best. This week: three Ash Handley, two Croft, one Cam Smith. Now a week’s break and a chance to rest up.

KATIE MARCZYNSKI

Another Jake Connor masterclass and a fourth hat-trick of the season for Maika Sivo were enough for us to take our winning run of matches to five and stay joint top of the table. And while Connor might not be racking up the tries this season, he is pivotal in setting them up, alongside Lachie Miller. I wouldn't be surprised to see both of them on the initial shortlist for this year’s Man of Steel.

To survive three players being sin-binned and still come out on top proves our class and shows how much we’ve grown as a team. While our ill-discipline allowed Wakefield back into the game more than once, we always looked like the better team and the result was never really in doubt.

We’ve been very fortunate with injuries so far this year, especially when you look at what is happening at other clubs; you have to credit our backroom team and our overall fitness levels for this. We’ve adapted to a quicker game and we are thriving. A week with no game shouldn’t do us any harm. It gives us time to work on things before heading over to Wigan a week on Friday.

TOM GOLDSWORTHY

In a game that seemed to be very stop and start, Leeds managed to find some rhythm to defeat Wakefield Trinity and extend their lead on the Super League ladder. It was a pleasing performance against a team who are also fighting towards the top of the table, however I think we saw the best and worst of Leeds on Friday night.

There is some work that needs to be done in defence and discipline if we are going to compete for silverware this season. Similar to the Huddersfield game, the tries we are conceding are very soft and completely avoidable. Losing Maika Sivo and Ash Handley so close together to the sin-bin did not help, but there is still an issue of concentration that needs to be addressed.

On the other hand, we have definitely found our groove in attack, with this being the third game in a row we have scored more than 40 points. Leeds have played some beautiful rugby this season and look to be scoring tries for fun. Sivo will get all the headlines and rightly so as he looks to be on track for a record-breaking season, but Brodie Croft’s try-scoring form is just as impressive. Croft has found the consistency we had been crying out for from him and finally looks like the player we spent all that money on three years ago.

Our next game away at Wigan will be a good test for Leeds. We have done well so far this season, but this will be the first big team we have played on their home soil. It will be interesting to see how we cope with the occasion, but with the contrasting form the two sides are in going into this game, I believe Leeds will pick up their sixth win in a row and keep their place at the summit of the table.