'Pretty embarrassing': Leeds Rhinos boss blasts poor discipline in 'reality check' defeat at Hull FC
Annoyed coach Brad Arthur described Leeds Rhinos’ 24-16 loss at Hull FC today as “a bit of a reality check” and admitted their discipline in a dismal second half was “pretty embarrassing”.
Leeds hit back from 14-2 down to lead 16-14 at the interval, but then went off the rails as they slumped to a second successive defeat, following the Betfred Challenge Cup exit against Wakefield Trinity nine days earlier. Rhinos looked a far cry from the side which thrashed champions Hull KR 58-6 in Las Vegas at the end of last month and Arthur conceded: “We are not going as good as we think we are.”
Having seen Leeds penalised nine times, three of them for dissent, the vexed boss felt they were their own worst enemy. “Some of the ill-discipline is not what I want our club to be about and be part of,” he stated.
“It was pretty embarrassing, some of the discipline in the second half. If some of the blokes want to talk to the ref instead of worrying about doing their own job, it's not good enough. It has really disappointed me.”
Arthur’s men face in-form Warrington Wolves at AMT Headingley next Sunday and some tough questions will be asked at training this week. “We need to get to the bottom of it,” the coach stressed. “We’ve been nothing like we’ve practiced or say we want to be in the last two weeks.
“[I’ll be asking the players] why, what has changed? We went well in Vegas - so what? We’ve got ahead of ourselves, we think we’re going better than we actually are. It’s not good enough. I am not going to question character, but I think we need to make better choices.”
Of who he will look to to put things right, Arthur said: “It starts with me and then from there it's the senior players. We've got to come in and do our review and be honest with it, accept responsibility and accountability and do something about it. It’s all right saying what we’re going to do about it - we’ve actually got to go and do it.”
Arthur believed Rhinos “let frustration boil over” in the second half, which was something they spoke about during the break. He went on: “I’ve said this a bit about this team, our losses look the same. It is my job to fix it and we need to fix it now.
“It is just a lack of discipline, lack of control. We’ve lacked composure when we are under pressure. When we are under pressure we have got to enjoy that part of it and get in the grind and fight and play tougher.”
Of the penalties against Leeds for dissent, Arthur fumed: “I am not happy about that, it is not a good reflection. We have worked so hard to get ourselves in a good place with our discipline and not be known for that, but in the space of 40 minutes you can undo that. We have got some work to do there.”
He added: “I am not going to blame anyone else other than ourselves. As far as I am concerned, everything that happened out there we brought upon ourselves and deserved. It has got nothing to do with the referee, this performance.”