Brad Arthur has admitted his Leeds Rhinos side were lucky to defeat London Broncos on Sunday, with the Australian head coach expecting an improved account against Hull FC this Friday night.
Arthur called the team’s performance “not good enough,” but Brodie Croft’s 89th-minute drop goal helped the Rhinos upset London 21–20, saving their blushes in the capital. Leeds, who are now just one point out of the Super League play-offs with three matches remaining, managed to salvage some comfort for their season.
Arthur is now challenging his side to ‘make the most’ of that scenario, with the Black and Whites heading to Headingley with just three wins to their name all year, one of which was against Leeds back in June, a game that proved to be former head coach Rohan Smith’s last in charge.
Arthur made the following statement during his press conference after the game: “We accomplished our goal of winning the game. We’re going home with the two points we came here to chase, but we’re not thrilled with how it went.
However, we must move past it since we have five days to prepare and we are aware that our performance was inadequate. We’ve been online for a while now. Although the effort and physicality have been excellent over the first six weeks, I believe London outperformed us in that area today.
“They really cracked, and I don’t want to take anything away from them. We didn’t play football nearly well enough, even though we anticipated that would be the case.
“We hung in there and we came through the game without any major injuries, which is important into a five-day turnaround, and we got the two points, if we didn’t, our season was over, so we need to make the most of that now.”
Locked up at 20–20, Rhyse Martin, a back-row player bound for Hull KR, was the key to Leeds’ triumph. The 31-year-old scored all three of the Rhino tries in the match. Arthur is still expecting more from the Papua New Guinea international, even though he scored four goals as well.
Arthur continued, “He has demonstrated over the last few weeks how important his goal kicking is.” “He does some really good things with the football and runs a good line.” He has a great understanding of the game. All we need to do is keep pushing him to play the entire 80 minutes.
“He’s not worth it. Each player who departs from your team is a loss, but it also presents an opportunity for someone else. Next year is not on our minds just yet. He’s crucial to us right now, and we still have three games left.”