Leeds Rhinos fans sing Sam Lisone's praises, hail performance at Hull FC, worry about 'papering over cracks'

That kept Rhinos in the top-six race and our Jury were impressed with a host of individuals, though baffled why the team can’t play like that every week.

Here’s what the panel made of the victory in East Yorkshire and how they think Saturday’s home clash with Wigan will go.

IAIN SHARP

Last Saturday’s ‘Battle of the Smiths’ was won by nephew Rohan over uncle Tony.

The game followed the usual blueprint between the two teams: Leeds looking decent in the first period, a brief resurgence by Hull FC after half time and then Leeds blowing them away towards the end, prompting a fire drill level exodus from the home seats.

Man of the match was Sam Lisone, who was the scourge of FC all game and ran in three tries. He’s fast becoming a fan favourite, complete with his own chant and this correspondent particularly approves of songs based on the hits of Belinda Carlisle.

Jack Sinfield slotted in at scrum-half and the ever-improving Luke Hooley didn’t put a foot wrong, calling into question the logic of signing Lachie Miller to supposedly play full-back.

Generally, the travelling faithful were on decent form all game and they should be applauded for their efforts to get to Hull in the light of a train strike.

There was an excellent chant of ‘we’ll win it from 8th’ highlighting the current league position and the past history of winning the Grand Final from lowly league positions.

It’s Wigan at home on Saturday in the penultimate Headingley game of the season, with Leeds clinging on to faint hopes of still making the play-offs.

DAVID MUHL

A trip to Hull is never easy, but this one was surprisingly very rewarding. A shuffled team, due to late withdrawals, did a fine job to come away with the two points.

The most frustrating thing about the Rhinos this year has been their inconsistency. You really don’t know which team is going to turn up.

There were some great individual performances; Cam Smith continued his good form and must be in the running for player of the year and what can we say about Sam Lisone? I have been singing his praises for several weeks, but he excelled himself with a well-taken hat- trick. He will be making himself unpopular in the prop-forward club, running 40 yards to score!

David Fusitu’a had a good game as well and took his try well. If he could stay fit, he would be a great player, but he’s as good as me when he’s on the treatment table.

Young Jack Sinfield had a steady game and is developing well. He will have learned a lot from this game and it looks like he’ll have a run in the first team which will help with his progress.

Rhyse Martin had a good game at stand-off; is there any job he hasn’t done for the club this year? It wouldn’t surprise me if he cleans out the changing rooms after the match.

My head tells me our chances of a top-six finish are over, but my heart is telling me we’ve still got a chance if we continue to play like that.

We will have to be on top form on Saturday to beat Wigan. They are on a good run and their defence is superb, but who knows? With a packed out Headingley behind them, anything is possible.

BECKY OXLEY

Well what a 360 from last week. With a few changes due to injuries, it would have been easy to say ‘here we go again’, but Rhinos proved us wrong.

This was game number one of four that we had to win to have any hope of a top-six finish and a chance to feature in the play-offs.

Sam Lisone was the stand out man. What a future he has and I’m really looking forward to watching what else he is capable of. Three tries and a personality, the fans certainly like him and having his own song says a lot these days. He was certainly enjoying the attention with the fans at the end of the match.

Jack Sinfield made his way into the team for the first time in a while and he played okay, but he needs regular games to be able to grow in experience.

Luke Hooley was another favourite of mine this week. He has had a nice run of games and is fitting in well. He scored a good try and he is definitely an exciting prospect.

Wigan up this week at home and another must-win game to keep up any hopes up of getting into the play-offs.

Wigan are playing well and are currently top so will want to stay there if possible for the league leaders’ shield. We will need another good week and who knows what we can do?

TOM GOLDSWORTHY

The Rhinos kept their slim play-off hopes alive and ended Hull FC’s in the same game, which was a result I would not have seen coming after the rubbish we saw at Huddersfield the week before, but I am glad to be proven wrong.

The main positive was big Sam Lisone who scored a hat-trick and put us on our way to a crucial win.

Although he has blown hot and cold throughout the season, I genuinely think we have a quality forward on our hands who runs hard, is good with his hands and seems to take pride in wearing the Leeds shirt. Fitness is the issue with Lisone, but if we condition him correctly, we could have a beast in our ranks for our title push next year.

Another positive is Jack Sinfield finally getting his chance in the first team. I believe the club have done the right thing by slowly introducing him to the side, especially while he completed his A-levels, but he definitely took his chance in the team.

It was made even more impressive by the fact he did not have a proper half-back partner with him and I am looking forward to seeing him blossom into the team.

One gripe I have with the result is the fact we cannot produce this on a weekly basis. I appreciate I sound like a broken record at this point, but we looked like a completely different team to the one that showed up in our previous three games.

Regardless of whether we make the top-six, it really has been a grim season and I hope we can iron out these inconsistencies for next year.

This leads perfectly into looking ahead to Wigan this week. Even if we weren’t chasing the play-offs, this would be an absolutely must-win game. I really hope the quality Leeds team show up that we saw in the reverse fixture and not the garbage we have seen far too many times this season.

SAM BROCKSOM

“Oooh baby do you know what it’s worth, Sam Lisone is the best on Earth…”

What a performance from the big man, in what was undoubtedly his best game in a Rhinos jersey. He will definitely be getting kicked out of the prop-forward’s union after that last try!

Have we left it too late? Probably, however there is still a chance we could scrape the play-offs if we keep winning and results go our way.

The question is, do we deserve to be there? Probably not. We shall see what happens, however clinching a top-six spot would just be papering over the cracks and the club still needs a reality check as to how far we have fallen.

The performance on Saturday was much improved compared to what we have seen in recent weeks.

Credit to Luke Hooley, who can’t stop scoring it seems, and to James McDonnell, who returned to the team seamlessly after injury.

Wigan this week, another incredibly tough game that forms part of a double header with the

women’s side. A shout out to them after their comeback victory against St Helens on Sunday. The girls look really strong going into the play-offs. As for the men, I hope Jack Sinfield keeps his place and with nothing really to play for, I wouldn’t mind seeing Alfie Edgell given a bench spot too.