Leeds Rhinos' Mikolaj Oledzki makes form vow, says every game 'must-win', insists 'exciting times' are ahead

The England World Cup forward has been Rhinos’ player of the year for the past two seasons and was in the 2022 Betfred Super League Dream Team.

A shoulder injury meant he missed the start of the current campaign and he accepts he hasn’t yet got back to his best level of performance.

Oledzki said: “This year I have had to look in the mirror and be honest with myself; I have not played as well as I want to and definitely nowhere near where I was last year.

“That’s something I am working on. I have had a few changes off the pitch I have had to adapt to - positive changes - and I have got a busy life at the moment, so I am balancing everything out.

“Even though my performances aren’t the best, it is still part of the journey. Hopefully I will have a long career ahead of me and a blip here and there isn’t the end of the world.

“It is a lesson I am going to learn off and take into next year. That is part of life, you can’t be firing 100 per cent every day, sometimes there will be dips here and there.”

Oledzki admitted he was “a bit down about my performances” at the start of the year, but he stressed: “I had to look in the mirror and take a bit of responsibility and look at what I am doing, where I can balance a bit better, what I am doing too much of or not enough of.

“I am 24 years old and still learning. It is a journey you have to enjoy and the good times wouldn’t feel as good without the bad times.”

The same could apply to Rhinos as a team. Last week’s 24-22 win over Warrington Wolves ended a three-game losing run and they began Super League round 23 sitting eighth in the table, two points outside the play-offs.

Rhinos face a crucial game at Huddersfield Giants on Sunday and Oledzki said: “It will be the same for the next five weeks - they are all equally important, they are all Grand Finals at this point.

“If we are really honest with ourselves and we want to make the play-offs and challenge for the trophy, every game is a must-win and we have to put in a performance we can build off.

“[Last Sunday] wasn’t our best performance, but we got the win and sometimes you have to grind them out.”

Rhinos had a scare on the final play when Matt Dufty only had to collect Stefan Ratchford’s grubber kick to score what would have been the winning try, but the Warrington full-back could not hang on.

“We have had the ball bounce against us the last few weeks and sometimes it is nice for a change to get that bounce of the ball,” Oledzki noted.

“Two points is two points and we will keep building on that. Warrington are a good team, they have got some great internationals and at the start of the season they were top of the table.

“That doesn‘t happen by coincidence and a team doesn’t go from good to bad in a few weeks. They are still a good team and it was a good win for us, a good two points.”

But Oledzki insisted it is not a case of Rhinos’ confidence being boosted. He stressed: “We are all right for confidence.

“We have had a few good performances where the result didn’t go our way, but we came off thinking ‘we’ve put a decent performance in there’.

“We weren’t low on confidence, but sometimes it does help to come off a win and go into training that week a bit more upbeat.

“The two points is good for morale, especially when it’s a tough game. Easy games, when you put 40 or 50 points on the board, you can get a bit lost in it and a bit complacent, but when you grind a win out it is good for the team.”

Harry Newman was a substitute last week and Morgan Gannon made his comeback from injury in the reserves the same day.

Both players had been on the casualty list since May 26 and Oledzki reckons their return has come at just the right time.

“We are getting a few boys back, some very good quality players,” he observed. “They can only benefit us at this time of the year.

“There’s a few more who could be back in contention if we make the play-offs so there’s lots to look forward to and, if things go our way, some exciting times ahead.”