Leeds Rhinos' Scott Grix puts club concerns before family rivalry in crucial clash v Hull FC

Grix’ younger brother Simon Grix was placed in caretaker charge of Hull - alongside ex-Rhinos player Francis Cummins - following team boss Tony Smith’s departure two weeks ago. Smith, who had a hugely successful spell as Leeds’ coach from 2004-2007, is the uncle of current Rhinos boss Rohan Smith, so this Sunday’s clash was always set to be a family affair.

But Rhinos began Betfred Super League round nine in eighth place on the table, two points outside the play-offs and with four defeats in their last five competitive games, including a painful setback against one of Grix’s former sides, Huddersfield Giants, last Friday. Putting that right is the Leeds assistant’s only concern this week and he insisted: “We have got to be better for longer.”

He said: We are going to a pretty hostile place, so we are expecting a tough game. We are confident in what we are doing; we are obviously disappointed in the manner we lost last week’s game, but we’ve had a long turnaround and we are ready to go and put in a good performance.”

Six of Leeds’ next eight matches are against teams below them on the table, including the bottom two of Hull and London Broncos twice each. But Grix stressed: “We haven’t looked that far ahead. We know where we are at this week and that is the main thing for us.”

On a personal note, Grix - who has been in his Rhinos role on a full-time basis since October, 2022 - admitted he has had to change his routine in the build up to Sunday. “It has been a while since we’ve gone head to head in any capacity, so it’ll be a tricky week,” he said of coming up against his brother. “We usually speak to each other quite a bit about things in general - family, rugby and that sort of stuff - but this week will be a quiet one. He lives at the top of my road so I’ll see him when I pass him walking the dog, but that’ll be about it this week.”

Scott, 39, is the older brother by 16 months. The pair were at Halifax together at the start of both their playing and coaching careers, but have spent most of their time at rival clubs.

Scott also played as a utility-back for Doncaster, Leigh and Widnes Vikings, plus Wakefield Trinity and Huddersfield in two spells each, while the bulk of second-rower Simon’s career was with Warrington Wolves.

“We played maybe about eight games against each other over the years,” Leeds’ assistant-boss recalled. “Most of it was him getting the better of me, but it has been a while.

“The first time we played against each other was quite a big deal family-wise, though when we were out there in the middle we didn’t really take much notice, but as the years went on it was just another game - as this week will be. We’ve got our own stuff going on to focus on so that’ll be the main point for us.”