Leeds Rhinos: Our YEP Jury give their verdicts

KATIE BURROWS

Without getting too carried away, we’ve finally taken a step in the right direction. Friday’s game was by no means a great performance on our part and there is still plenty of work to be done, but the important thing is that we managed to endure the horrendous conditions and come away with the two points.

On the whole, I thought we were much better defensively than we have been in recent weeks, although we are still allowing the opposition to break through the middle far too easily in my opinion, usually at pivotal moments.

Our presence in attack, which has been another cause for concern this year so far, was much more convincing – seeing how much it meant to the players to get over that line made me proud to be a Rhino.

Kicks proved to be the difference once again and it was nice to be on the right side of that for a change! Jordan Lilley was on target all night with his three conversions, as well as a penalty that was awarded late in the first half.

I think McDermott needs to leave our kicking responsibilities with one player for the rest of the season now, instead of constantly switching between Lilley, Hardaker and Sutcliffe. We need a solid first-choice kicker, and we’re never going to get that if we have a different player in that role each week.

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s trip to St Helens I really hope we give them a game. One of our many problems this season has been our inability to follow up a win with another solid performance, so it’d be good to actually do that this week and, who knows, we might even manage to come out on top.

We’ll need to be better than we were against Hull last week, but the confidence from that win, plus the fact that we managed to beat Saints in March, should stand us in good stead.

I thought the fans made the difference last week, the atmosphere in the South Stand was the best I’ve experienced since last season and that was great to be a part of.

We might not have opera man at Langtree Park to guide us to victory this week, but I think we’ll manage. Leeds to win by one score.

ELIZABETH HAWKHEAD

A win at last! After a difficult few weeks Leeds finally managed to ‘squeeze’ out a win against a powerful Hull FC.

Despite subjecting Rhinos fans to an incredibly tense final 10 minutes, in my view the team did turn a corner on Friday.

In similar positions against Castleford, Wakefield and Salford, Leeds simply could not close the game out. Against Hull we saw a team digging really deep to hold out for the win.

Hardaker’s defensive play was worthy of a ‘Man of Steel’ and he certainly deprived Hull of points.

Jordan Lilley’s field play, marshalling of team-mates, his goal kicking, and his first try for the club made him my ‘man of the match’ and I would love to see him have some meaningful game time alongside McGuire. Robbie Burrow had a busy night, looking sharp as he tried to break the Hull line.

But apart from JJB, who battled and made an impact throughout the game, the Leeds forwards looked poor and just did not make the yards yet again.

It will be a difficult at Saints this week, as they seek revenge for the defeat earlier in the season, but Leeds MUST build on the Hull win and start moving up the table. We have to stop relying on other teams slipping up and gain points on our own merit.

LUKE CROSSFIELD

It was great to see us get two points on the board against Hull FC – points which we really needed.

Jordan Lilley was 100 per cent with his goal kicking which has been a department we have struggled with when it has been others kicking goals.

The celebrations from the players after the match were great to see and show that they care.

Young duo Ashton Golding and Ash Handley had great games on the wing which is good to see. On to St Helens away tomorrow night where we have a 50 per cent record since they moved to Langtree Park.

I reckon last week’s victory is going to be a good boost of confidence that we need to start getting on a roll and back up the table.

ANDREW RICHARDSON

Last Friday Leeds needed to win at all costs and with the best performance for some time they beat a depleted Hull FC side. The game was not high quality, but Leeds can take pride in their performance. Consecutive victories would be huge and I believe Leeds are more than capable.

THOMAS LAWRENCE

Just like the weather, it wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to stop the rot – Leeds are back to winning ways!

An important win it was too, considering it was the game in hand on three surrounding teams who were competing in the Challenge Cup this weekend.

Time to kick on now against the inconsistent Saints, who were haphazard at Headingley five weeks ago.

A run of wins needs to come soon and Saints have looked very vulnerable in their recent home fixtures.

For me, Jordan Lilley and Jimmy Keinhorst were superb on Friday, and scoring first was key. So far this season Leeds have only scored first in three games – the three solitary wins! A good start is required at Langtree Park tomorrow.

ANDREW SUTCLIFFE

So against Hull we finally broke our losing sequence. We played like we had more pride, desire and teamwork in a game played in terrible conditions. Still plenty to do though. Hopefully they can build on this away at Saints, gain confidence and try get on a winning run.