Leeds Rhinos: Things are looking up says England star Mikolaj Oledzki

With three wins from their last four games, a new coach in place and players returning from suspensions and long-term injury, the front-rower says Rhinos are ready to put a poor start to the campaign behind them.

Rhinos remain third from bottom in the table, with only nine points to their credit, but they are now five points clear of basement dwellers Toulouse Olympique and just three adrift of Castleford Tigers who hold the sixth and final play-offs spot.

Their campaign could still go either way and with two months of away matches coming up, six on the road before they return to Headingley in July, Rhinos aren’t out of the woods.

But Oledzki feels a corner has been turned and -as this weekend’s break for the Betfred Challenge Cup final gives them more time to work with new boss Rohan Smith - he is confident of a much better second half of the campaign.

“It’s a big two weeks for us,” Oledzki said of the time before Rhinos’ next fixture, on Friday, June 3.

“Warrington is a big game and another must-win for us.

“At the moment, the table - under fifth place - is pretty tight.

“I know we have left it a bit late to start getting good form, but you don’t win trophies at the start of the season.

“It is not too late; if we get into a good rhythm now and start chalking some games off we can get into that top six.”

The injury crisis of last month has eased and Oledzki said that is another cause for optimism.

“We are getting a more consistent team, with lads coming back,” he noted.

“Zak [Hardaker] has been great for us, he is a massive addition to the team.

“Hopefully we are going to peak at the right time of the season.”

Tom Holroyd, who has yet to feature for Rhinos this year, is now fit after an ankle injury, but likely to face a ban following his sending off last weekend during a dual-registration appearance for Bradford Bulls.

But fellow front-rower Matt Prior will be available for the Warrington game after completing a two-match suspension and Oledzki welcomed Leeds’ increased strength in the middle of the field.

“He is great, we have missed him,” he said of Prior.

“He is awesome to defend with, he never stops so it will be great to have him back - and big Tommy when he’s available.

“He is a big body, runs hard and tackles anything that’s in front of him so it will be great to have him in the team.

“Everything is looking up for us, we are going in the right direction and with the lads coming back, it is only going to get better for us as a team.”

Reflecting on the 24-6 victory over Wakefield Trinity last Friday, Oledzki said it was a pleasing response to a poor performance in defeat at Salford Red Devils five days earlier.

He stated “It was a must-win for us; it wasn’t the best win, it was a bit scruffy from both teams and maybe you could put that down to the bad conditions in the first half.

“Both teams were a bit slow to get going and there were a lot of errors, but we knew it was a big game for us and we got there eventually, so we are really pleased with that.

“Against Salford, we were disappointed. We trained really hard that week, with Rohan coming in - we all bought into what he wanted to do and he deserved a win from us.

“We should have been better for us as a team and for him, but it wasn’t the best game from us. We knew we had to improve, we needed a reaction. We had to win on Friday so we are really happy to get that one ticked off.”