Kruise Leeming: Leeds Rhinos ace on agony v Hull FC, facing St Helens and why James Roby is world's best

Some people might be surprised by this, but I think St Helens away has come at a good time for us.

We’ll go there on Friday knowing how tough it’ll be, but after a couple of defeats to start the season I feel it is the sort of challenge we will rise to - you always get up to play the top side, everyone’s naturally more nervous and you know it is going to be a big game.

To lose against Hull last week was gutting - if we were on one win out of two that would sound a lot better, but we put a lot of effort in, we weren’t far off and it was an improvement on the week before.

I thought we defended hard and beat Hull in a lot of parts of the game. I genuinely think we were the better team, but we didn’t come away with the W and that’s disappointing.

It is inevitable the more we play together, the better we will be, but that’s not an excuse. We want results now and so do the fans. That’s exactly how it should be; you have pre-season to get things right for when the league begins and the fans want to see us firing and playing rugby from the off.

It’s disappointing for them and us that we are a bit clunky at the minute, but the lads are working hard, we have a good group and we’re doing everything we can behind the scenes to make sure we put in good performances.

That’s why this week is good for us. If we go over to Saints and beat them, we’ll be on a high and the past couple of weeks are forgotten. Saints are a fantastic side and I imagine it will be a party atmosphere for their first home game since they won the World Club Challenge, but that’s good for us as well.

As a player, you want to play in the games with a big atmosphere, whether it’s for you or not. It’s what you dream about as a young lad and I’ve not lost that, so I can’t wait to go over there. Hopefully it is a packed out stadium and a cracking atmosphere, because those are the games I love to play in.

Facing Saints is a challenge because they’ve got so many outstanding players, but as a number nine I always look forward to going up against James Roby who is a legend of Super League.

I think he has been the best nine in the world in recent seasons and he’s my favourite player in that position. He plays a style of rugby I can relate to; he is a running nine, but there’s also a lot of subtleties to his game.

He is somebody I’ve watched and admired and wanted to play like. Cameron Smith at Melbourne Storm was regarded as the world’s best and, playing in the NRL, I think he got a bit more exposure, with all their games being televised.

But having watched James Roby play week-in and week-out for so long, for me he would edge it as the best nine on the planet in recent years.

Against players like him, we will have to be at our best and take every chance that comes our way. I think against Hull we were good for large periods of the game, but we didn’t put away our chances. Good teams, like Saints, seem to withstand a lot of pressure, then get one chance and take it.

Castleford made breaks against Saints last Sunday, but didn’t quite finish them off. If they had, it might have been a different result, but Saints kept them out and turned their chances and half-chances into points and went on to win the game.

That’s what we are striving to do and we need to be clinical on Friday. Against the better teams and in Grand Finals, you don’t get five or six chances, you might get one or two and then you’ve got to defend your way to victory.

I think it’s too early to get a handle on how the competition as a whole is going to go, but it’s definitely exciting.

There have been some shocks already and I think the matches so far have been good to watch. Rugby league is growing, there’s more games being televised and I do feel like the sport is heading in the right direction.

Finally, thanks to all the fans for their backing in the first two rounds of the season.

I have always said Leeds Rhinos have the best fans in the world. Playing in an atmosphere like they create is fantastic at any ground, but for us to have it at home is a real boost because that atmosphere's for us.

As a player, that’s what you want to play in. I hope our supporters know we really appreciate it and they are a massive help to us.