Harry Newman delighted with Leeds Rhinos' response against Hull KR

Switched into his specialist centre position, after a spell on the right-wing, Newman scored Rhinos’ opening two tries and set one up for Ash Handley in the second half.

He was named the club’s official man of the match, but insisted: “Firstly I was very, very pleased with the team performance, especially coming back from that defeat on the opening day of the season.”

Rhinos were crushed 30-4 at home by Hull FC in Betfred Super League round one and victory over the other East Yorkshire team went some way to putting that result to bed.

Newman said: “Obviously it was very disappointing, especially after a good pre-season and a few wins in pre-season, but it was only round one. We had a chance to fix it up at Huddersfield and unfortunately that got called off.

“We went into the game on Friday knowing we had worked hard all week and we put a performance in that showed what we can do.”

The nine-try romp was Leeds’ biggest Super League win since July 2017 and lifted spirits on the field and the terraces.

“It shows the quality of our attack and what we can do to teams,” Newman added.

“I thought there were some outstanding performances. Luke Briscoe, first game back, made some great metres coming out of yardage and Luke Gale controlled us around the field.

“Other players played really well too. We have got a good squad, we won’t get carried away with ourselves, but we will take it into this week and hopefully we can build on it.”

Rhinos haven’t won more than two successive Super League matches in the past two seasons so the challenge now is to turn last week’s positive result into a sequence of similar outcomes.

“We have come on massively as a team,” Newman insisted. “The new signings have helped that, but we just have to progress each week and keep working hard on the training field and being brutal in the camp. If we do that we will kick on this season.”

Rhinos have a good record against Saturday’s hosts Salford Red Devils, but lost to them twice this year. Salford were beaten at home by Huddersfield Giants in round three and Newman observed: “They reached the Grand Final last year so they’ll be playing with confidence.

“They’ve lost a couple of key players, but that gives someone else a chance to step up.

“They will be ready for us and they’ll be up for it and raring to go, but so will we. We have got to kick on now and if we want to do something this year we’ve got to win back-to-back games.

“We are going to face tougher challenges, we know that – the likes of Hull, St Helens, Warrington, Wigan, all who are pushing for top-five spots, but we can take massive confidence from [last Friday] and hopefully we’ll kick on for next week.”

Of his own display against Rovers, Newman credited Briscoe for providing both his tries, but reflected: “I was pleased. For me this year is just about kicking on from last season, training hard and playing each week, learning and building my experience up and playing better each game.

“I was happy with that performance, but it’s only one and I’ve got to kick on again.”

Newman played as a winger in pre-season and against Hull.

He said: “I was needed to play wing, with Tommy [Briscoe] being injured. I was happy to play centre last week, I am happy to play wing or wherever Rich [Agar, Rhinos’ coach] wants me to play. I have just got to do my best in whatever position he picks me.”

l A length of the field try by prop Muizz Mustapha sealed victory for Rhinos reserves in their opening game of the season.

Other try scorers in Rhinos’ 16-10 victory over Bradford Bulls were Joe Burton, Sam Walters and Brandon French.