Leeds Rhinos news: coach Brad Arthur reveals 'team identity' plan for Wigan Warriors clash
Boss Brad Arthur has revealed what he wants from his Leeds Rhinos players in this weekend’s final pre-season hit-out.
Wigan Warriors visit AMT Headingley on Sunday for Ash Handley’s testimonial match, exactly a month after Leeds beat Wakefield Trinity 18-16 in the Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge. Rhinos’ first competitive game of 2025 is a Betfred Challenge Cup tie away to either Wests Warriors or British Army on the weekend of February 8/9 and their Super League campaign kicks off at home to Wakefield the following Friday.
Arthur fielded his strongest-available starting side in the Boxing Day fixture, before making a host of changes for the second half. Of Sunday’s match, he said: “We’ll give each of the players a bit more game time.
“Not a full game but most of the guys only got 40-50 minutes in the last game. We’ll push them out to something between 60 and 70 minutes. We want to see them doing what they did in that [Boxing Day] game for longer periods.”
Outlining his aim for this weekend, the coach added: “We’re still working around our team identity - every time you put on a Leeds Rhinos jersey, what that looks like. We want to embed that.
“Early in the season, especially in the conditions, possession is going to be important. I felt our discipline in the trial match was pretty good; we did concede six penalties and a couple of cheap errors, but overall, it wasn’t too bad so we want to continue on that path.”