YEP Jury: Now that’s what we’ve been waiting to see from Leeds Rhinos

The eight-try display was, they reckon, a clear sign boss Rohan Smith is getting his message across, but nobody is getting carried away ahead of Friday’s tough game at Huddersfield Giants.

TOM RHODES

Does anyone know what’s happened to the Leeds Rhinos team? Wow, what a performance that was on Friday night, a completely different team turned up.

They stuck to the game plan and played some exciting rugby, creating some spectacular tries. There wasn’t a single player on that pitch that put a foot wrong.

A big shout out to Kruise Leeming and Blake Austin who controlled the game magnificently with some great kicks. I think now we’re starting to see the Blake Austin we signed and seeing his smug face smiling when we scored a try made it all the better. Also not forgetting Zak Hardaker playing a stormer of a game.

Another tough fixture is ahead of us this Friday against the Huddersfield Giants, who caused a big upset in southern France by beating Catalan Dragons. I’ll be very surprised if we come away with two points but, if we stick to the game plan like we did against Warrington and tighten up our defence a little bit, there’s nothing stopping us going one better than the draw back at Headingley a few months ago.

OLIVER LIMON

Leeds gave the Wire a ‘royal spanking’ over the Jubilee Bank Holiday.

Rohan Smith has us playing a low-risk but highly-successful brand of rugby league. The Loiners’ performance had a bit of everything, flair, skill, solid defence and tries galore. At one stage in the first half Leeds scored three tries in six minutes and were just too hot for Warrington to handle. Wire looked equally poor across the park, their fans watching a team just slide away with their pre-season optimism in the dust.

They were lucky Rhyse Martin had a rare off day with the boot, otherwise the half century could have been brought up.

The boos rang out from the home fans from half-time onwards. This culminated in ugly scenes at the end of the game with Warrinton fans arguing amongst themselves in the crowd and two players wading into the stand – not a great sight for a family sport.

We will need to up our game against a buoyant Huddersfield side who defeated the high-flying Dragons in France. But, for now, we can savour a crushing victory and look up the table with play-off hopes reignited.

JOSH MORROW

That Leeds performance was arguably the best of the season by a long shot, aside from a strong first 20 minutes or so from Warrington where they looked likely to get a try or two.

The energy and effort from the team has improved massively. When Warrington made their line breaks in games gone by they would have walked under the posts but we showed a real determination to defend our line.

Leeds seem to be developing a real identity under Rohan Smith; they are playing a fast and direct brand of rugby with lots of support runners.

The kicking game has become an asset rather than an afterthought with Warrington getting pinned in their own 20. My highlight of the match was the move they borrowed from the Melbourne Storm trio of Smith, Cronk, and Slater, the little tip back inside can be devastating when timed right.

A special mention to Blake Austin, who took some heat earlier in the season, for his leadership off the pitch, which is evident in the team’s YouTube content, and his general effort on the pitch, which has been great the last few games.

KHYA GOTT

A huge win for the Rhinos at the weekend against Warrington, both in terms of the Super League table and on the scoresheet.

I knew I liked the pink kit, and two wins in two wearing that kit looks like it is lucky for us!

It was a great result that was well deserved and dominant. Honestly, it was what we deserved the first game of the season and much more. 40-4, it can’t get much better than that.

That Ash Handley try to finish the game was the icing on top of the cake.

Let’s hope that result can spur us on this weekend and for the rest of this long, tough period.

Again, I’m looking for a bit of ‘pay back’ this weekend against Huddersfield.

That late comeback in April was brutal.

The Giants are in good form too.

They’ll still be hurting from their Challenge Cup defeat as well, plus the rivalry of the West Yorkshire derby.

Anyway, after our win against the Wolves, I’m once again optimistic of a good result.

KENDLE HARDISTY

What has happened to the old Rhinos and what have you done with them Rohan?

There is the debate of whether Rhinos were too good or Wire were just really poor.

I’m sure many Rhinos fans don’t care either way.

That result against Wire could completely change our season. Watching the Rhinos play free-flowing rugby was so much better.

Rohan Smith promised the way we attack would change and, so far, has kept to his promise.

Our defence was, once again, solid and we looked very organised.

Zak Hardaker was absolutely unreal again for the Rhinos. You can see why teams don’t like him when he is on the other side; he is just unplayable sometimes. The away fixture against Huddersfield has come around very quickly following the draw at Headingley last time out.

They have just beaten Catalans so they aren’t letting the Challenge Cup final loss play on their minds.

If the Rhinos can come away with a victory on Friday, it will be another massive step in the right direction.

IAIN SHARP

Leeds organised a (street) party of their very own last Friday by thumping Warrington in what some might argue was not only the best performance of this season but perhaps the best of the last couple.

One of the seldom-highlighted benefits of the 96-year-old Monarch is that she is part of an ever-dwindling group of people who were actually around the last time it was genuinely ‘Warrington’s Year’. Wire’s current modus operandi – ‘Cas with Cash’ – seems to be mis-firing badly under Daryl Powell.

And, did Leeds dodge a bullet by not signing George Williams, who looked a shadow of his former Australian version?

The Rohan Smith Revolution faces its toughest test yet this week at Huddersfield. No longer ‘whipping boys’, the Ian Watson-invigorated Giants now hack it with the best Super League can muster and were unlucky not to win the Challenge Cup.

They face a Leeds side starting to fire and must be high on confidence. Whilst not wanting to consult the crystal ball just yet, if Leeds can pull it off, it might just be worth checking diary availability in late September.