Friday’s huge game at St Helens is the sort of challenge Leeds Rhinos thrive on, veteran star Kallum Watkins says.

Rhinos will move closer to a top-two finish in Betfred Super League - and home semi-final - if they win. Saints are seventh in the table after a tough campaign, but sit just a couple of points outside the play-offs with three rounds remaining.

Watkins stressed: “It is a massive game. It always is against St Helens and I think they are coming into a bit of form now, which is good. It sets up a really entertaining clash, which it was when we played them at home.

“It’s a lot different now, with their coach going and a couple of players coming in. That makes it very interesting, but we’ll go there full of confidence we can get the job done. We are looking forward to it.”

Kallum Watkins celebrates Leeds Rhinos' win at York Knights. Picture by Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Kallum Watkins celebrates Leeds Rhinos' win at York Knights. Picture by Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com.

Saints’ season seemed to be over when they lost at home to Hull FC three weeks ago, but successive victories against Wakefield Trinity and Castleford Tigers have revived hopes of maintaining their ever-present record in the play-offs. “They have got everything to play for so they will be right up for it,” Watkins warned.

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“They want to get into the play-offs so they need to be playing well and getting results. For us, it’s about ensuring we continue to do what we do really well and showing why we are right there at the top. When we get presented with a big challenge like this it gets the juices flowing. We are looking forward to it, we can’t wait.”

Leeds have brought in reinforcements in the shape of former NRL prop Matt Lodge who was a try scorer on his debut in last Sunday’s 66-16 win at York Knights. Watkins said: “He did great when he came on. Us being in a big lead probably helped, but he looks a good player in terms of his carries, he is strong in defence and a good communicator on the field as well.

Kallum Watkins reckons Matt Lodge, seen during his debut away to York Knights last weekend, is a valuable addition to Leeds Rhinos' squad. Picture by Matthew Merrick/SWpix.com.

“I am really happy to see him join us. I think he wants to help us out as much as possible. He wants to achieve something special as well and when he got the opportunity to come he took it with both hands, which is great to see. He is into it straight away, which I expected because he’s such an experienced player in the NRL, so we are glad he’s here.”

Confidence is high in Leeds camp following the 12-try hammering of York, which came a week after a 20-16 home loss to Leigh Leopards. Watkins reflected: “It was good, a good performance against a team that has had a dig pretty much all year and are very together.

“For us, I think it was a good response to the week before. We were disappointed not to get the result against Leigh, but there were a lot of positives out of it as well, which is good. We moved on pretty quickly from it and focused on [the York] game. It was great to get the result and it’s a big one this week.”

Having struggled to get over the line against Leigh, Watkins admitted scoring 66 points was a boost to the team’s confidence. “It is good to get a scoreline like that, it doesn’t happen very often,” he stated.

Kallum Watkins is tackled by Shane Wright during Leeds Rhinos' home win against St Helens in June. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

“For us, it is about executing our plays really well and I thought we did that. You have to take your opportunities and I thought our start was really important and that set the tone in terms of the points we scored.

“I thought we were really professional in that sense. You get presented with different challenges and different opportunities every week and when we got opportunities, we took them.”