Leeds Rhinos' greatest Super League side? On their day, this team were almost unstoppable

Rhinos were reigning Super League leaders and Grand Final winners and had just lifted the World Club Challenge trophy - all for the first time - when they kicked off their domestic campaign 18 years ago today (Saturday) with a 16-12 win at Hull FC.

Coach Tony Smith’s team that evening was Richard Mathers, Mark Calderwood, Chev Walker, Keith Senior, Marcus Bai, Kevin Sinfield, Danny McGuire, Ryan Bailey, Andrew Dunemann, Danny Ward, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Chris McKenna, Gareth Ellis. Subs Barrie McDermott, Ali Lauitiiti, Rob Burrow, Willie Poching.

Rhinos won their first eight games of 2005, in all competitions, before a shock 44-28 home reverse to Wakefield Trinity at Easter.

They followed that with a similar successful run and lost only two of their first 23 fixtures until an ill-fated game against London Broncos in Perpignan, when they let a big lead slip to suffer their third defeat of the campaign.

Five more wins followed, but then the wheels came off and a four-match losing run included defeat by Hull in the Challenge Cup final at Cardiff.

Rhinos, who had been coasting towards top spot, had to settle for second place, three points behind St Helens and though they won there in a qualifying semi-final, they were beaten by Bradford Bulls at Old Trafford and ended the year with no domestic silverware.

Because of that, the Leeds team of 2005 tends to be overlooked, but between February and August that year Rhinos played some of the most dominant rugby Super League has seen.

In all competitions, they passed a half-century of points 10 times, including three scores of 60 or more and four when they reached at least 70.

In June, Rhinos won 70-6 away to Wakefield and thrashed Wigan 70-0 at Headingley seven days later.

Calderwood top scored with 35 tries and Burrow (28), Senior (25) and McGuire (23) all broke the 20 barrier.

In their opening 29 matches, Rhinos failed to score at least 30 points only five times. Of the 26 players who made a first team appearance, 15 came through Rhinos’ academy. No wonder their average home crowd was a shade over 17,000.

There have been more successful Leeds teams in terms of trophies and the 2015 treble winners may have been the gutsiest, but for style and attacking ability, the 2005 side were in a class of their own.