Rising star Harry Newman is keeping seasoned centre Konrad Hurrell on his toes – and the Tonga international says that’s a good thing for Leeds Rhinos

The Tongan international is preparing for his first Easter weekend in Betfred Super League.

Rhinos are at home to Huddersfield Giants on Good Friday and back up just three days later with an Easter Monday derby at Wakefield Trinity, but Hurrell insisted: “I am looking forward to it.”

With Rhinos two points adrift at the bottom of the table Hurrell reckons the holiday double-header is a golden opportunity for them to kick-start their campaign.

“It is a tough time for us and we need these wins in these next couple of games,” he said.

“The pressure is on for us to start winning games and I reckon this Easter is a good opportunity.

“Hopefully we will take a good win from Friday into Monday and the next game.

“I am excited about it, we just need to go out and win.

“That’s all we need to think about rather than ‘here we go, back-to-back games’.

“We always need to be positive.

“We have just got to take it game by game and go from there.

“We have got Huddersfield first and they have been on form in the last month, but the little bit of an advantage for us is it’s a home game again and hopefully we will come out of it with a win.”

Rhinos suffered an embarrassing 45-26 defeat at Hull KR last time out in Super League, a fortnight ago, after having beaten Castleford Tigers in their previous match.

“It is going to keep getting tougher and tougher so we need to be consistent, not just by winning games, but by how we play,” Hurrell added.

“We have got to play throughout the whole 80 minutes, not just 60 or 40. Against Hull KR we had the worst start to the game so we have got to change that mentality and go hard from the start and keep going all the way to the end.”

Hurrell was rested last weekend when Rhinos crushed League One side Workington Town 78-6 in the Coral Challenge Cup and said the break has done him good “especially with a good win from the boys as well”.

He added: “We all knew it wasn’t going to be that tough a game, but you never know what those kind of teams are going to throw at us.

“The main focus was on ourselves, not on the other team.

“The boys did the job and it was a great win, but we have dumped that already. For me the weekend off was good just to get the body right and go again for this week.”

Hurrell scored four tries in the defeat at Hull Kingston Rovers and that feat was matched by his replacement last week, teenager Harry Newman.

“He was the man of the match for us,” Hurrell observed.

“I was like ‘oh mate, I don’t want to go and play in the middle’!”

On his form so far there is little chance of Hurrell being dropped, no matter how well his understudy plays, but he insisted Newman is snapping at his heels.

“There is a lot of pressure,” he stressed.

“I have said it from day one, I have come here and I need to work hard.

“I don’t own my spot and there’s a lot of young kids here who are hungry for it so I need to start performing better every week.

“Harry is a very skilful player but, at the same time, I love how he trains and how he works. He works hard and goes at 100 miles an hour.

“He is a tough kid and it is hard to think you are better than him because he will keep coming and keep trying.

“The way he plays, he is all over the place, he wants the ball and he loves tackling, he loves to get his hands dirty too.

“He is still young and still learning and the older he gets the better he’ll be.”