'Can play anywhere': why Leeds Rhinos' Rhyse Martin has been shining light in disappointing campaign

The Papua New Guinea Test captain has played and scored in all Rhinos’ 24 competitive games so far and began this weekend as Betfred Super League’s joint leading points scorer, alongside Salford Red Devils’ Marc Sneyd, with 172.

He has kicked 66 goals - the fourth highest in the competition - from 83 attempts, a success rate of 79.51 per cent which, surprisingly, is eighth-best.

Martin is also Rhinos’ second-highest try scorer with 10, one behind winger Ash Handley. All of which makes him one of the campaign’s most consistent and impressive all-round performers.

He is also among the most versatile, having started 16 games at centre, seven in the second-row and at stand-off in last Sunday’s defeat by Huddersfield Giants, after Corey Johnson, who had been filling in at six, was ruled out.

It was a surprise selection by coach Rohan Smith who left specialist half-back Jack Sinfield out of his 17, but Martin explained: “We lost Corey after the last game with an injury.

“I played the back end of that game against Warrington at six and I think what we are struggling with at the moment is having the same team on the field every week and trying to minimise the changes, so we don’t have a different team every time we take to the field.

“That’s probably what the thinking was behind that, we had a consistent team out there and not changing everything one week and then going back the next.”

Martin has played at stand-off in the past and could be there again when Rhinos visit Hull FC on Saturday, but insisted his only concern is “doing my job for the team”.

He said: “I am a footy player, I can play anywhere. I guess it is a good thing for our team at the moment; we’ve lost Blake [Austin] and Kruise [Leeming] and a number of players this year so it has been tough.

“Having players capable of playing multiple positions has really helped the team out. I am just doing what’s best for the team at the moment.”

It would be a personal bonus if Martin - who is due to become a father for the second time in the next few weeks - could finish as Super League’s leading points scorer in the regular rounds, but he insisted he was unaware of his position at the top of the chart.

“I had no idea,” he said. “As soon as the game’s over I come home and spend time with my family. I don’t like to dwell on those things.”

More importantly, Leeds need to win at Hull to keep their faint top-six hopes alive. The loss at Huddersfield left them four points adrift, but Martin stressed: “We’ve still got four games to win. If we win this week everyone will be saying we are in with a chance.

“We need a win this week and then we can focus on the top-six. Last weekend was a hard one to cop because of how important it was and the way it went, but we still have a chance to get into the top-six.

“We have got to turn up on Saturday not feeling sorry for ourselves and we have a great chance to beat Hull.

“All we can do is look at the next game. If we don’t beat Hull, the writing is on the wall, but we are confident we can bounce back.

“We have been fighting all year to get these wins so we will turn up and give it our all on Saturday.”

Other than a crushing 42-10 round one defeat at Warrington Wolves, Rhinos have been competitive in every game this year and Martin admitted: “It is a bit heartbreaking, because I reckon there’s six, seven or eight games we were winning and then we weren’t able to execute or something happened and we lost those games.

“We would be in a totally different spot if we’d managed the back end of those games better. It is what it is, but we did it last year - we were in a similar position, but we had to do it from 10 games out, or even more. Hopefully that gives the team confidence we can do it again.”

Hull have a similar record of 10 wins and 13 defeats, though Leeds’ points difference is far superior.

The hosts are on the back of a defeat to Warrington Wolves last Saturday and Martin reckons they will be saying the same things.

“We are playing them at their house and they always show up against us, everyone does,” he said.

“It will be an exciting game, that’s for sure. We’ve had a week of preparation and hopefully everyone’s ready to go.”