Grand Final form, Jake Connor for England, why Joe Shorrocks ban is ironic: Leeds Rhinos talking points

Last weekend’s 34-0 win at Hull FC was their fourth successive victory, secured their place in the top-six and moved them up to third in Betfred Super League. Here’s five talking points ahead of Thursday’s visit to Huddersfield Giants.

1: What a difference a year makes. Two trips to Hull FC, 14 months apart and the contrast could not be greater. From Rhinos’ perspective, the 18-10 loss at MKM Stadium in June, 2024, was a miserable experience. The result and performance were embarrassing and there were angry scenes in the away end as Leeds fans calling for coach Rohan Smith to be sacked argued with others who weren’t.

Last Saturday’s return showed how much things have changed. Off the field, the fans partied and chanted the coach’s name. On it, Rhinos negotiated a tricky hurdle with ease, playing some outstanding attacking rugby and keeping a clean sheet, as they secured a play-off qualification for the first time since 2022.

Twenty minutes of excellence either side of the break did the job. Leeds got scrappy in the second half and made a lot of errors, but this Rhinos side is now good enough to win when they aren’t at their best. It’s a long time since that was the case.

2: Consistently good. Rhinos scrum-half Jake Connor produced another masterful performance at Hull, scoring a sublime interception try and providing the assist for three of Leeds’ six touchdowns. Connor was five points clear at the top of the Man of Steel leaderboard when it went secret in June and is playing better now than he was then.

If he’s not the best player in the competition at the moment, who is? Surely his only real challenger is another Leeds player, full-back Lachie Miller. When Connor was left out of the England Ashes training squad in June, coach Shaun Wane said the Leeds man needed to be more consistent. If he doesn’t get the nod next month, he’ll at least know he gave it his very best shot.

3: Form team. Since the high-scoring home win against Leigh Leopards on June 27, Rhinos have played eight games and won six of them, the defeats being to St Helens by six points and one point at Wakefield Trinity.

In those fixtures, they’ve conceded 10 tries: three in one game, two in another, only one in five of them and none last week. The aggregate score from Rhinos’ last four matches - three of which were against teams in the top-six at kick-off time - is 148-26 in their favour. That’s Grand Final form if they can keep it up for the next few weeks.

4: Disciplinary blow. During Rhinos’ 32-6 win at a near full-strength Salford Red Devils in Super League round two, the hosts’ Joe Shorrocks was sin-binned for a foul on Brodie Croft. That earned him 15 penalty points - including a bonus three for an injury caused - after he was charged with grade D head contact. Five more were added for an unsuccessful appeal.

Under the new totting up procedure, that effectively meant - even with points being halved once a punishment is served - he faced an additional ban every time he was charged this year. A lot has happened since February, not least Salford going into meltdown and Shorrocks joining Rhinos on loan until the end of the season.

Having made his debut last weekend, Shorrocks was today (Monday) handed five penalty points after being charged with grade C dangerous contact, despite the tackle on Liam Watts appearing to be above the knee. That took his total to 15.5, resulting in a two-match ban. So, Shorrocks is now unable to play for Leeds partly because of something that happened when he was playing against them. The new disciplinary system is an improvement, but there’ll be controversy over the next few weeks when players are banned for the biggest games of the season, including potentially the Grand Final, following relatively minor incidents.

5: Max power. It was good to see 21-year-old centre Max Simpson back in the team against Hull, more than three years after his previous Super League game. Having been sidelined since July, 2022, with ankle and then knee problems, he featured in only two reserves matches before being called up to replace the injured Ash Handley.

He made a few rusty mistakes, but showed some very good touches before being taken from the field on a stretcher after a knock to his head/neck. Fortunately, there seem to be no lasting ill-effects.

Another positive is, Saturday’s incident was one which could have happened to anyone and wasn’t related to his previous issues. Anyone with a heart will hope he’s back on the field soon and fulfilling his impressive potential. He deserves it after what he has been through.