Maika Sivo's record pace, George Brown promise & mystery over Jack Bird: latest Leeds Rhinos talking points
Things are going almost too well for Leeds Rhinos at the moment.
The team is largely healthy and in good form, Maika Sivo has been scoring tries for fun and everything in the garden appears rosy ahead of Friday’s Betfred Challenge Cup tie at Wakefield Trinity. Here’s five talking points.
1: Sometimes the result is more important than the way it’s achieved and that was the case for Rhinos against Castleford Tigers yesterday (Sunday). Eight days after the big win against Hull KR in Las Vegas, with the return travel to factor in, it was always going to be a tough assignment, but Leeds got the job done in a professional, though not spectacular, manner.
One of Leeds’ coach Brad Arthur’s traits is he won’t accept excuses and that attitude is rubbing off on his players. It is the sort of game they might have lost in recent years, so a 22-4 win was highly satisfactory.
Rhinos have a short turnaround into Friday’s Cup derby and will need to knuckle down again against a team who should be fresher, but Leeds have more fit bodies than places in the team at the moment and, given how other clubs are suffering, that’s a good situation to be in. They need to make the most of it while it lasts.
2: Arthur could have taken the easy option and fielded players out of position against Tigers when Brodie Croft was sidelined with a hamstring injury. Instead, he did the right thing by putting his faith in 19-year-old stand-off George Brown.
Brown, with three first team appearances to his name, still has a long way to go, but is already showing great promise. He scored the opening touchdown against Tigers - taking his first team tally to three - and defended strongly, including an important try-saver.
He’s more suited to playing at six alongside Jake Connor than scrum-half as a partner for Croft and looks to have a bright future. He was probably one of the reasons Rhinos were willing to let Jack Sinfield leave to join Wakefield so it’ll be interesting if both play this week.
3: Trinity are the only English Super League club who haven’t reached a Challenge Cup or Grand Final in the summer era so will be highly motivated on Friday, but it’s also a huge game for Rhinos. Leeds are the Challenge Cup’s second most successful team, after Wigan Warriors, but are in their worst slump in the competition’s history.
Since beating Salford Red Devils behind closed doors at Wembley in 2020 they have managed only two wins, against amateurs Wests Warriors and Championship side Widnes Vikings and have lost to St Helens three times, Castleford and Wigan. Their last Cup victory over top-flight opposition in front of a crowd - albeit less than 2,000 - was away to Widnes in May, 2018. That’s not good enough for a club with such a rich Cup tradition and they need a run this year.
4: Maika Sivo is the third Leeds player in the summer era to score three - or more - tries in successive games. Mark Calderwood managed back-to-back hat-tricks in 2005 against Pia and Leigh and Danny McGuire repeated the feat three years later, in wins over Harlequins and Wakefield. In both cases, the first of those games was a Cup tie.
Nobody has managed nine tries in three games before Sivo’s current run and he is already only four behind Ryan Hall’s total last year when he was Leeds’ top scorer with 13 in 27 appearances. McGuire’s 39 tries, in 30 games, in 2004 is Rhinos’ best in the summer era. The Super League season record is 40, by Castleford’s Denny Solomona 10 years ago. If he stays injury free, Sivo will have that in his sights.
5: At times in recent seasons, injuries have left Rhinos down to the bare bones. The collision nature of the sport ensures it won’t last, but at the moment Arthur has almost his entire squad available to select from and making sure everyone gets some game time is the coach’s biggest issue.
Being able to rest players who have any sort of a niggle could pay off later in the season and there has been no need to rush back anyone from a spell out, Mikolaj Oledzki for instance. One mystery is where recent signing Jack Bird fits in.
The Aussie can play almost anywhere, but Rhinos already have Chris Hankinson in that category. Having him on the bench meant Arthur could replace Ash Handley without disrupting the side when the skipper’s groin tightened during the Tigers game. Hankinson came on and did a fine job, including putting Sivo over for his hat-trick score. Arthur is a big fan and Hankinson, an unheralded signing, is proving a valuable asset.