Leeds Rhinos' Brad Dwyer fired up to face former club Warrington Wolves

Dwyer, who will face his former club Warrington Wolves at Emerald Headingley on Friday, was expected to be Leeds’ back-up hooker this year following Kruise Leeming’s arrival from Huddersfield Giants.

But the new number nine suffered a knee injury in training before Christmas and won’t make his debut until June, so Dwyer has started all three games so far.

“It has been all right,” he said of his form up to now. "It’s the start of the year and I’m just getting into it, into a rhythm. There’s a few things for me to work on and me and Rich [Agar, Rhinos’ coach] have already spoken about it.”

Being less “erratic” out of dummy-half is one area of his game Dwyer and the coaching staff have been focusing on.

“I was really pleased with the Hull KR game,” he reflected. “It just takes some getting used to and the more experience I get doing that the better I will be.

“There’s some stuff contact-wise I have got to work on from the Salford game, but that should be easy to fix up really in D [defence]. We are a good team at the moment and it’s just about fitting into that.

“We are all finding our roles and stuff like that and it’s a good team to be part of, so I am pretty pleased with my form and I’ll just keep building and working on the things Rich is asking me to.”

Of his status as first-choice hooker, Dwyer admitted: “Kruise is out and that’s disappointing news for him. The competition between us would be good.

“I think Richie [Myler] has done a good job and he is putting pressure on from that side so that’s good, it’s what I need.

“But I am trying not to think about that, I am just focusing on the things Rich [Agar] is asking me to improve on, which I am pretty pleased with.

“I think we’ve come a long way from where we were at some points last year, but it’s just finding that right balance when to express myself in the game and come up with some big plays and when it’s best just to feed - we have got two great half-backs and a great full-back, so it’s about when to feed them and getting that balance right.

“It’s all about an all-round game and building up some combinations with the rest of the players and just picking when’s the best time for me. That’s all it is.”

Team-wise, Rhinos have bounced back from their round one disappointment against Hull by beating Hull KR and Salford Red Devils. The win at AJ Bell Stadium last weekend lifted them to fifth in the table ahead of round five - with a game in hand on some of their rivals - and they have chance on Friday to end a three-year wait for three successive victories against Super League opposition.

“I think we are pretty happy with how we are travelling,” Dwyer said. “We’ve got lots to work on, we are not denying that, but I think we are really pleased and the result last weekend was great - that we could stick in and gut it out, even though we weren’t really at our best.

“It is good for us as a group that we can stick in there and get the win. We have got some great individuals in our team who can come up with big plays and they will get us out of trouble at certain times, but there’s a lot for us to work on, we know that and that’s what we will be doing.”

Rhinos hit back from 8-0 down in difficult conditions at Salford and Dwyer said: “It’s great for us that we can still be composed.

“We knew we hadn’t really fired, but we were still in the game at half-time and we just needed two tries.

“The confidence is there in ourselves as a group and as long as we keep working for each other it will stand us in good stead.”

Warrington have won both their home games this year, including a whitewash of St Helens but lost twice on their travels.

“They had a great result against Saints,” Dwyer noted. “They have got great individuals throughout their squad and they love to play off the back of quick rucks like you always see with Daz Clark.

“Blake Austin and Stef [Ratchford] are in there as well, but it’s all on us. We believe on our best day we will challenge Warrington and we can get the win.

“We are just focusing on ourselves and the individuals and talent we’ve got and hopefully just playing in the best way we can to exploit some of our talents.”

Dwyer spent five seasons at Warrington and has some “good mates” there.

He said: “It’s a great club, I enjoyed my time there and they are up there, they’ve been one of the best teams for a while so it is always great to play against them and hopefully we get the result.”