Two home defeats in seven days make no difference to Leeds Rhinos’ Grand Final hopes, coach Brad Arthur says.

Leeds followed last Saturday’s 40-8 hammering by visitors Wigan Warriors with an 18-12 loss to Hull FC yesterday (Friday). That was their third defeat in as many games at AMT Headingley, after they had won their first 10 games there this season.

Last night’s setback didn’t prevent Rhinos finishing second in Betfred Super League, which gives them a bye through the opening round of the play-offs before a home semi-final on Friday, September 25. A win then would secure a place in the Grand Final and Arthur insisted: “Overall it has been a really good season, we can’t go away from that.”

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Kallum Watkins' try for Leeds Rhinos was too little, too late as Hull FC left AMT Headingley with an 18-12 win. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

placeholder image — Kallum Watkins' try for Leeds Rhinos was too little, too late as Hull FC left AMT Headingley with an 18-12 win. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com.

Speaking after the loss to Hull, he said: “Our last couple of weeks haven’t been great, but 14 days isn’t going to count for anything really - it’s what we do in two weeks’ time. We have five or six sessions leading into the game so we’ve got plenty of time to recover and get ready and make sure everyone knows what their job is.”

Leeds created a host of chances against Hull and Arthur accepted poor skill let them down. But impressive form for most of the campaign - and their best league placing since 2017 - has given Rhinos an opportunity of fighting for the title and the coach stressed they must make that count.

He said: “Really, we are 80 minutes away from Old Trafford, aren’t we? That’s what we’ve got to focus on. We know we are going to be in week two [of the play-offs] and we’ve got to get it right. There was plenty of fight and we tried hard, we just didn’t nail some execution.”