Steady progress - Agar assesses Leeds Rhinos' revival

Agar took over, initially as caretaker coach, last July after Dave Furner was sacked just 15 games into the season.

Rhinos have won 12 of their 25 competitive fixtures under the former Hull and Wakefield Trinity boss and were on a four-match hot streak when the rugby league was halted last month by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rhinos have conceded an average of slightly less than 16 points per game under Agar, compared with almost 27 when Furner was at the helm.

On attack, they have scored 27 per match, five more than the average under the previous coach.

According to the club’s own statistics, Leeds are now conceding the second-fewest metres per game and equal-second fewest breaks, having previously been bottom and eighth respectively on those indicators.

Rhinos’ figures also reveal they are now the joint-best side in terms of defending drop-outs and are fifth on the table of passes made, up four places from the first half of last year.

Agar is cautious about the improvement shown, pointing out that this season Rhinos have played two fewer games than most of their rivals, with a favourable fixture list including only one away match, but he reflected: “I would say we have made progress.”

Agar reckons a realistic measure is to look at Rhinos’ results since the Magic Weekend last May, when they beat London Broncos in a tense relegation scrap.

“The first two games [after Furner’s exit] were Bradford and Castleford,” he recalled.

“They were ground zero. I know they count on the record, but if you go from the Magic Weekend to where we are now, it is 12 wins from 19.

“I think it is to say we are pointing in the right direction, not only in the win/loss ratio and finding some consistency, but also the young players coming through has been a real positive for me personally.

“To know we have got some real quality kids who are hopefully going to form the basis of our team for the next generation that’s something I am chuffed to bits about.”

Rhinos’ final game before the shutdown down was a 66-12 thrashing of Toronto Wolfpack, a week after Leeds crushed Warrington Wolves 36-0.

They were briefly top of the table and currently sit third, with at least one game in hand on most of their rivals.

“As a group, we are in a pretty all right place,” Agar insisted.

“Every time we get a win people say ‘but you’ve got to win the next one’, or ‘you haven’t played anyone yet’, but form over a period of time now would suggest we have turned it around a fair bit.”

Trips to Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers either side of a home clash with St Helens - the games postponed so far due to the shutdown - would have provided a better indication of this year’s form and tougher tests certainly lie ahead.

“Internally, no one’s proclaiming we are going to win the comp,” Agar insisted.

“We know we are still building and there’s a long way to go, but we think we have given ourselves some good foundations and personally, I am working with a really terrific bunch of blokes.

“I can’t stress that enough. They make the coaching job easy and enjoyable, they understand what it means to play for Leeds, where we’ve been and the steps we’ve had to take.

“They know what a good, accountable environment needs to be like. They understand we will have some setbacks, but it’s about getting better the following week, don’t carry our defeats too hard or get too carried away with wins.

“We have managed to get together a really good group of players, not only from a playing stand point, but good guys too.”

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