Leeds Rhinos' Danny Levi talks true grit, big game v Wigan Warriors and reason for pack rotation policy
They are top of the tree with more than a third of the season completed, but Danny Levi reckons there’s more to come from Leeds Rhinos.
Rhinos completed a fifth successive win when they defied three separate yellow cards to beat Wakefield Trinity 40-22 at AMT Headingley last weekend. They have no game this week, because of the Betfred Challenge Cup semi-finals, but Levi feels the battling nature of their last performance sets them up nicely for a huge visit to Wigan Warriors on Friday, May 15.
“It was awesome,” the hooker said of the win against Wakefield. “It was a tough one, it’s hard if you get three sin-bins, but the boys showed real grit and bravery to stay in it. I thought even though we had players off we were still dominating, which was awesome too.
“It’s still quite early in the season and there’s a long way to go. The test for us is to make sure we do that week-in and week-out, with that determination and that physicality. If we can, we’ll be good.”
Time spent practicing with 12 players paid off last week when Maila Sivo, Ash Handley and Jack Bird all spent time out of the action. Levi, who joined Rhinos in pre-season from Canberra Raiders, feels the resilience shown during those spells typified what they are about as a team.
“We do a lot of work defending with a man down,” he said. “It’s desperation defence at that point; there’s a few things we still need to fix up with that, but I thought the boys showed good grit and determination to keep working for each other.”
Leeds will go into the Wigan game fresh after a two-week build-up, though Levi admitted being knocked out of the Challenge Cup at the fourth round stage, by Wakefield, still hurts. “We’d like to be playing, but it is what it is,” he stated. “We can just control what we can and get a good rest and make sure we turn up for the game at Wigan.”
Levi has been the starting hooker in eight of Rhinos’ 12 competitive games this season and a substitute for the other four, with Jarrod O’Connor doing the reverse. With everyone fit and available, coach Brad Arthur has “shared the workload” among his forwards and Levi stressed: “We understand what BA is trying to do.
“It is a long season, we have to look after ourselves and we know that’s what he is trying to do. We’ve got competitive players and everyone wants to start; we all feel like we can keep going, but BA is trying to do what’s best for us and make sure we are fit and healthy when it comes to the back end of the season.”
Of his own form, Levi added: “I feel like I am travelling good at the minute. I’ll just keep going - we’ve got a lot of superstars in the team and I’ve just got to make sure I do my job.”