Latest talking points from the Leeds Rhinos camp

Leeds Rhinos have suffered back-to-back one-point defeats for the first time in the club's history. Here are five talking points.
Richie Myler kicks ahead at Hull FC.Richie Myler kicks ahead at Hull FC.
Richie Myler kicks ahead at Hull FC.

1: Don’t panic. Rhinos are in a run of disappointing results – two wins from their past six games – but to put things into perspective, three losses in that sequence have been by one point and there was also a draw. Rhinos need to stop giving the opposition a lead, but it will not take much to turn things around.

2: One thing Rhinos need to work on is drop goals, on both attack and defence. Huddersfield missed a simple opportunity to land one in the Good Friday draw, while Rhinos haven’t been close and didn’t even get a shot at Hull last week. Richie Myler seems to be the go-to man, but has kicked one drop goal in his career – as have Liam Sutcliffe and Joel Moon. Nobody else in the squad has kicked a senior one-pointer. Somebody needs to take responsibility, because the competition is getting closer and four points have gone begging already.

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3: Rhinos have slipped to sixth in Betfred Super League, but are only three points behind third-placed Warrington Wolves, with a game in hand. Considering their injury problems, they have done all right this season, but the lack of experienced big men is beginning to take its toll. For much of last week’s game Rhinos were outmuscled by Hull. The young players who have come in have done well and gained valuable experience, but Brad Singleton was badly missed at KCOM Stadium and Rhinos need him, Mitch Garbutt and Nathaniel Peteru back on the field as soon as possible.

Matt Parcell.Matt Parcell.
Matt Parcell.

4: Ryan Hall’s reviving try against Hull was Leeds’ first in 110 minutes. They played some excellent attacking rugby for a spell after that, but for much of the game lacked ideas close to Hull’s line.

5: Had Josh Bowden been sin-binned for the incident which led to Matt Parcell’s penalty try the result could have been different. Hull were on a team warning, so surely a yellow card should have been issued? The try decision was right though. An eight-point try is awarded for a foul in the act of scoring and Parcell lost the ball so that wasn’t the case.