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Leeds Rhinos: Bud looks ready to bloom
BOSS Brian McClennan feels Leeds Rhinos' key players are starting to come good at just the right time – and he is predicting a storming finish to the season from hooker Danny Buderus.
Today's trip to Hull marks the start of the crucial final third of the regular engage Super League season, and McClennan is backing his pivots to lead the way as Rhinos begin to build for their play-offs campaign.
"Rob Burrow is starting to play really well and Kevin Sinfield has been very professional, as he always is," said McClennan. "Kevin is having a really, really good season and Danny Buderus is getting more and more game-time and getting used to the players around him.
"The pivotal positions are the hardest ones to play in when you are new to a team and you have got to learn different voices and different styles of people around you.
Positives
"He has come in, he is getting used to his team-mates and I can see him getting better and better. There are a lot of positives there."
A run of six wins in seven games since their poor sequence of results around Easter has lifted Rhinos to second in the table, three points clear of third-placed Hull KR but four behind leaders St Helens.
Rhinos' destiny is in their own hands, but McClennan insisted: "We aren't really looking at the table, we are just looking at performances and trying to improve a bit each week.
"We have got Hull this weekend and we're just going to concentrate on that. It's important we perform well and try and get some consistency.
"We are getting there. The game against Bradford was a quality game. From what I have seen of the other games last weekend, they weren't of the same standard.
"The week before we had some decent periods against Harlequins and if we can just get some more consistency, we will be all right.
"The main thing for us is to go to Hull and play well and if we do that, we'll give ourselves a good chance of competing, because it is a difficult place to go and win."
McClennan added: "We can see we are making progress, though we were a bit down defensively last week. Scoring 33 points is enough to beat most sides, but it's not often you see a Rhinos side leak in 20.
"We are pretty harsh on ourselves – we want to get better faster, but we can see some good things evolving."
Leeds easily overcame Hull 46-16 at Headingley Carnegie in late May, but McClennan said they can't count on today's game being as straightforward.
"It's difficult to predict how a game's going to go in Super League," said the Leeds boss.
"All we can do is control how we play. If we can play better than we did against Bradford – we defend better and we improve our attack – we will give ourselves a good chance of winning the game.
"Hull have got a lot of quality in their team, but it has been a difficult season for them because they have had a lot of injuries.
"Some players haven't had the game-time (coach) Richard Agar would have liked and it's hard getting continuity when it's like that. But on their day Hull are a gritty, tough side and they can turn it around pretty quickly. It is a dangerous game for us.
"We really respect Hull and their history and we respect the fact we are going to their ground. That is why we are really concentrating on doing everything we can to be the best we can be."
Rhinos are without full-back Brent Webb (neck), but hooker Matt Diskin is in contention following a neck problem and back-rower Simon Worrall and centre Mike Ratu are also included in McClennan's initial 19-man squad.
Hull are also without their full-back, Motu Tony. He has undergone surgery on an infected ankle.
Ex-Leeds prop Ewan Dowes is out after being hurt in training this week, but Chris Thorman, Sam Moa, Dominic Maloney and Josh Hodgson come back into the reckoning.
Hull (from): Thorman, Broughton, G Horne, Yeaman, Raynor, R Horne, Berrigan, Thackray, Lee, Radford, Burnett, Manu, Tickle, Houghton, Whiting, King, Moa, Maloney, Hodgson.
Leeds Rhinos (from): Smith, Donald, Gibson, Senior, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Bailey, Lauitiiti, Burgess, Diskin, Worrall, Ratu.
Referee: Ian Smith (Oldham).
Kick-off: Today, 5pm.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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