Leeds Rhinos v Workington Town: Coach Dave Furner focuses on getting the Headingley outfit’s house in order

Struggling Rhinos can take inspiration from Catalans Dragons who lifted the trophy last year after a disastrous start to their league campaign and Furner insisted: “You’d want to win it, wouldn’t you, but I haven’t looked at it in the big picture because if you do that you lose focus on what’s ahead.

“It is just about each game for us.”

Furner was a Challenge Cup winner with Wigan Warriors in 2002, scored a try in Leeds’ final defeat the following year and is a big fan of the knockout tournament.

“In particular when you’ve got the overseas players coming over, that’s the attraction,” he said.

“I know you’ve got two competitions at the same time which asks a fair bit of the squad and of a player, but any players who’ve had an opportunity to play in a Challenge Cup final [will agree] it is special.

“For any player to be involved in those games, it is prestigious. I certainly place a lot of importance on those games, but we will concentrate on Friday and then switch our attention to Super League the following week.”

Workington, coached by old Leeds adversary Leon Pryce, are fifth in Betfred League One, having won three and lost two of their fixtures so far.

“They have certainly got their threats,” Furner said of tonight’s visitors. “But we have really got to focus on what we need to improve on.

“There were certainly some areas defensively last week that, by our standards, were not good enough.

“We need to work on that, that will be our focus for Friday and then moving forward into the Super League games.