Same gameplan, different mindset as Leeds Rhinos aim to 'ride the wave' in London Broncos rematch
Leeds Rhinos have been urged to believe in their own capabilities when they take on London Broncos at AMT Headingley today (Saturday).
A tide of emotion swept Rhinos to an 18-10 victory over Leigh Leopards in their previous game, two weeks ago, on a night when the club celebrated the life and career of former scrum-half Rob Burrow. Roared on by the majority of a 17,000 crowd, Leeds produced arguably their best - and certainly most spirited - performance of the season, but Chev Walker admitted only time will tell if that was a turning point in what has been a disappointing campaign so far.
“We’ve just tried to ride the wave a bit and keep them positive,” Walker said of his and fellow caretaker boss Scott Grix’s approach this week. “The lads had a break after the Leigh game and they’ve come back in the right frame of mind and trained really well.”
Walker and Grix took over the reins just two days before the win over Leigh. Last week’s break limited the amount of time the squad have had together since Rohan Smith’s departure but Walker revealed the interim-coaches are focussing on altering “mindsets” rather than gameplans or tactics.
“We’ve tried not to change too much,” he stated. “It’s more trying to make them feel like they can do some stuff together as a group. Content has not changed much, but attitude around the place and willingness to come in and work has been the key message.
“We are encouraging them to actually believe they can do everything we’ve practised from pre-season. They showed against Leigh the capabilities are there; we’ve not changed anything towards gameplan or structure, it’s just trying to manipulate their mindset to actually deliver what they are capable of delivering.”
Leeds will field a stronger, more experienced side this weekend than the one on duty against Leigh, with Harry Newman, Ash Handley, Andy Ackers and Sam Lisone all set to return from injury, but Walker is keen to see a repeat of the effort and emission on show two weeks ago. He said: “That game confirmed the message we’ve been trying to get over.
“The people of this city, all they ever care about is it looks like you care and you are working hard for each other and trying. Nine times out of 10, wins come off the back of that if you do it consistently. The players have to knuckle down and work hard and commit to each other and to what we are trying to do and trying to achieve.
“The last game was a step in the right direction. There was a lot riding on that game and a lot of reasons to play well. We need to find that and tap into that tomorrow.”
London are bottom of Betfred Super League and have won just one game all season, at home to second-bottom Hull FC in May. Rhinos cruised to a 46-8 victory when the sides met at AMT Headingley two months ago, but Walker doesn’t expect his players to go into the game thinking it will be easy.
“We’re not that far away from them so we can’t look at the table and take anything for granted,” he warned. “They have shown all year they are spirited and they are a team - they play for each other and play well.
“We have to look after ourselves first and foremost; show them the respect we’ve shown to everybody else, but more importantly, show some respect to ourselves and look after what we have to get done. That’s not dismissing London, we know they will have some attacking threat and cause us some issues if we don’t concentrate and work on our detail and our effort.”
Saturday’s game is a milestone for Rhinos’ 25-year-old prop Mikolaj Oledzki who is poised to make his 250th appearance for the club. The Polish-born forward’s debut came in 2017 and Walker hailed his contribution so far.
“It is a great achievement for any player to do that,” he noted. “At such a young age, in the position he plays, to knock that amount of games out and still be growing and getting better is really promising. Mikolaj has really come on as a bloke, he is a lot more mature than previous years in his approach and mentality and he is becoming a leader.”
Headingley will host a triple-header on Saturday, with Rhinos’ women facing St Helens at 12.30pm, the men kicking opff at 3pm and an academy derby against Castelford Tigers at 5.30pm.