Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur says 'hard work starts now': Super League leaders urged to find 'bit extra'

Rhinos go into tomorrow’s (Friday) home clash with Toulouse Olympique – which will be streamed live on Sky Sports+ and Super League+ and refereed by Tara Jones – as league leaders, two points ahead of Wakefield Trinity and Wigan Warriors. Warrington Wolves, in fourth, are six points behind Leeds with a game in hand and St Helens, currently seventh, trail the leaders by another two.

The top-six qualify for the play-offs, with teams finishing first and second securing a week off in the first round and home advantage for the semi-finals. The third- and fourth-placed sides will be at home in week one.

Arthur doesn’t believe in a ‘business end’ to the season and has challenged his men to finish their campaign with a flourish. “For me, every week is business in terms of I think every game is just as important as the next,” he insisted.

“I was thinking about finals [play-offs] at the start of the year, no differently to now. We want to be there, but there’s a lot of work to do. We have done the right thing up to this point, but I said to the playing group just this week, we have done a lot of hard work to get where we are now, but the hard work is only just starting.

“Especially if we get injuries, we need everyone to keep finding that bit extra for their teammates around their effort and physicality. If you get bumps and bruises, you have got to carry them.

“We have got a lot of blokes who are playing, but carrying injuries. Every club’s the same at this time of year. The teams that want to push through it and make tough choices are the ones that’ll be playing at the end of the season.”

Though Leeds are in a strong position, Arthur admitted the 36-34 loss at Castleford Tigers two weeks ago, after they led 16-0 and 30-16, still hurts. “It was a game of lost opportunity,” he added.

“Not taking anything away from Castleford, but we scored seven tries. You can’t do that in a game of football and lose. That needs to be still burning in the back of their heads as it’s burning in mine.”

Arthur, whose side won 48-24 in Toulouse last month, thinks highly of this week’s foes. He warned: “They are a very disciplined team, they try and complete high and give away few penalties and six-agains. They have worked really hard on a game model that works for them, but they also are pretty happy to move the ball around, test their hand and be expansive.

“They do it pretty well so we are expecting a tough contest. They have won [four] games on the road, they start well away from home and this is a good opportunity for them - they will be looking forward to it.”

All Toulouse’s points in last month’s game came in a 15-minute spell either side of half-time, after Leeds led 30-0. Arthur stated: “We have got the utmost respect for Toulouse, they have done a great job since they came into the competition. I think they’ve been great for the competition, but it is more about us, making sure when we get ourselves in good positions we have the composure to keep ourselves there and not just take the foot off the pedal a bit. We know we are going to have to work hard and that’s what we are looking forward to.”