Leeds Rhinos' Jarrod O'Connor talks playing the full-80, Andy Ackers' return & what's behind winning run

O’Connor has started nine successive games since Andy Ackers was injured in March, regularly playing the full 80 minutes. He made 60 tackles in Rhinos’ win against Hull FC last month, 51 in the following game at Castleford Tigers and 61 when Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity last time out. Despite that, his place could be under threat with Ackers expected to be back in contention for Saturday’s visit of Warrington Wolves.

“I love playing 80 minutes,” O’Connor stressed. “That’s my aim and when Ackers is back it will be good to get us back in together and pushing each other, which is always a bonus. Obviously he adds quality, so it is really good. I am really enjoying it at the minute and I am happy with my performances.”

Full-back Lachie Miller picked up a calf muscle problem against Wakefield and could be in doubt for Saturday, though the injury is not believed to be long-term. Winger Maika Sivo has been ruled out for the entire year after suffering anterior cruciate ligament damage in pre-season, but the rest of Leeds’ top 20 players are available.

Coach Brad Arthur is already having to leave a fit forward out of his 17 for every game and Ackers’ return will make his team selection even tougher. “Brad has said to us he wants us both to fight for that spot,” O’Connor confirmed.

“Whoever he picks, we back each other to do a good job. We are there for each other and we are really good mates, which obviously makes it a lot easier. We like to push each other and help each other all the time, so it’s really good.”

Rhinos will need all hands on deck over the final 15 games of the campaign, according to O’Connor. “The second half of the season is the most important, where the wins start to properly determine where you are going to finish in the table,” he noted. “We are chasing the top two teams now and I think we’ve proved we can go with anyone. We just need to make sure we keep grinding those games out and taking it week by week.”

Leeds will take a four-match winning run into Saturday’s game and have lost only one of their last seven. That has lifted them to third in the table and O’Connor said: “The grind mentality we’ve got now is probably what we’ve been missing - just grinding teams down. I think that goes a long way, all the best teams over the last couple of years have been able to do that and win in different ways. I think we are showing we can win in different ways now.”

The 23-year-old added: “It is an 80-minute game and we’ve had performances where we’ve switched off for 10 minutes. We have cut most of those out of our game now and each week we are staying in it until the last minute. We showed that [against Wakefield]; it probably couldn’t have got much tighter towards the end, but being able to stay in games and grind wins out is a real positive.”