Leeds Rhinos' Ryan Hall talks own form, team targets and facing 'quality side' Wakefield Trinity
Evergreen Leeds Rhinos winger Ryan Hall has played down his current good form, insisting the team comes first.
Betfred Super League’s all-time top try scorer will go into tomorrow’s (Friday) home derby with Wakefield Trinity having crossed three times in the past two games. The 38-year-old grabbed his 250th Rhinos touchdown in the 56-22 victory at Giants a fortnight ago and added a brace when Catalans Dragons were beaten 46-4 last Friday.
While his six tries for the season have been overshadowed by the feats of Maika Sivo, who has scored 14 on the other flank, Hall’s strong carries have been an important part of the four-game winning run which has lifted Rhinos into top spot on the table. “I am going all right,” Hall said of his form this term.
“I never pat myself on the back too much - I’d like to think of myself as very much a team winger. I value things like what I do in back-field, getting the team on the front foot; that’s where I pride myself, doing things for the team. As long as I am doing that all right and they are happy with me, I suppose I am playing all right.”
Hall made his debut in 2007 and rejoined Leeds last year after spells with Sydney Roosters and Hull KR. He is out of contract at the end of this season, but hasn’t ruled out playing on in 2027.
“I’m not really thinking about that,” he stressed. “We’ve only played nine rounds and there’s 27 in a season. There’s a lot of rugby to me played so I’ll see how I feel come decision time.”
With 102 points scored in their past two games, Rhinos will go into this week’s derby in good shape. “We’re top of the league and it’s good to get that points difference, because there’s a lot of teams on the same points,” Hall said.
“It’s quite congested at the top, but our points difference at the moment separates us a bit, which is good. Brad [Arthur, Rhinos’ coach] is keen on emphasising that so it was good to get a good points difference [last week].
“A bit of a theme was how poor we were defensively in the Huddersfield game, by our standards. We weren’t happy with the points scored against us, so it was better to get back to more like it [against Catalans].
“We said on the field we were chasing that zero and we didn’t quite get it. You’ve always got to chase perfection and we won’t be embarrassed about saying that. You have to do that to win stuff so that’s what we are striving for. We were disappointed with the four points conceded, there is a way to stop that try and we [have been] looking at that this week.”
Leeds will have to be on top of both sides of their game against a Trinity team who have won three of the last four meetings, including a Challenge Cup success in March. Hall warned: “Wakefield are a quality side.
“They are really strong and we know that. We lost to them in the Cup so it would be nice to give them a nice warm reception when they visit here.”