Box ticked, 7-up, Sivo not again, Man of Steel and rarely seen recruits: latest Leeds Rhinos talking points

Seven successive league victories is better than they managed in 2015 when they won all three available domestic trophies and Leeds’ determined display in tough conditions at Catalans Dragons last week suggested they aren’t in the mood to let standards slip.

Rhinos face a tough challenge away to local rivals Castleford Tigers on Sunday, but with a four-point lead at the top of the table, they go into Betfred Super League round 19 in high spirits. Here’s five talking points.

1: Seven up. Rhinos have had better winning runs overall, but the current sequence of seven successive victories is their best in Super League for 21 years. In 2000 Leeds won 13 straight league matches under coach Dean Lance - a run which ended in defeat at Castleford - and the closest they’ve come to that was eight in a row four years later, though that sequence was interrupted by a Challenge Cup loss.

There was a seven-match hot streak at the start of 2005 - eight including the World Club Challenge - but this term is the first time since then they’ve managed to win more than six straight league games. In all competitions, nine wins is Rhinos’ best run since 2000, achieved in 2008 and 2009-10.

They won their first nine Super League fixtures in 1998 and had an eight-game streak in the competition the following year, during a 13-match unbeaten run which included one draw.

Rhinos also had eight successive victories twice in 2005 and also during the 2006 and 2016 seasons, though not all of those were league fixtures.

2: Talking points. Now they’ve hit 30 points it’s probably fair to say Rhinos will be in this year’s play-offs. The only team to reach that total in a 27-round Super League season and finish outside the top-six were Catalans who placed seventh two years ago.

That’s the first box ticked for the season. The next target is a home play-off and Leeds need three more victories - from nine remaining fixtures - to match their points tally of last term when they finished fourth.

Expectations are rising and anything below the top-two would now be a disappointment. In the 12 previous 27-round campaigns, second-placed sides have averaged 40 points, though it has been done with as few as 37 and as many as 43.

And top spot? St Helens managed it with 38 points in both 2007 and 2014, but the league leaders have finished on 44 three times, including each of the past two seasons and the average is a shade under 42.

The most Rhinos have achieved over 27 games is 42 in 2008 - when they were second - and the following season, as league leaders. The least was a woeful 24 in 2023’s eighth-placed campaign.

3: Over not out. The end of Maika Sivo’s try scoring run might not be a bad thing. The winger scored in 10 successive games, a new Rhinos record in Super League and one short of the competition’s best, but it was becoming a distraction.

Now the streak has finished, any pressure on teammates to try to put him in, when there might be better options elsewhere, has gone. As Sivo is always quick to stress, it’s a team sport and individual accolades are a bonus.

4: Men of Steel. The panel deciding this year’s award are poised to meet for the second time and it’ll be a surprise if Rhinos don’t dominate the list of five leading contenders. Having served a three-game ban, Lachie Miller - who was in pole position after round nine - may have slipped down the grid, but Brodie Croft, fourth after the May meeting, has surely gone up.

Last year’s winner Jake Connor wasn’t in the previous top-five, but - as long as the panel have been paying attention - he will feature this time. Ash Handley and Mikolaj Oledzki are another two who could be in the frame, though the judges don’t seem keen on Sivo, despite his remarkable try-scoring record.

5: Rarely seen recruits. Time will tell on next year’s recruitment, but with Morgan Gannon and Dylan Walker coming in from the NRL it looks good so far. The club will hope they make more impact than recent additions.

Australian outside-back Ethan Clark-Wood featured just once after joining Leeds ahead of last season; Ethan O’Neill - signed on a three-year contract - managed four games before moving to Hull FC and fellow 2026 recruit Jeremiah Mata’utia, who has made two substitute appearances, isn’t being retained for 2027.

Even early-season addition Jack Bird is currently out of the side after playing six times earlier in the campaign. Fortunately, Danny Levi has bucked the trend; he is ever-present this year, has been in good form and played the full-80 against Catalans.