Why the hardest Super League wins for Leeds Rhinos always bring more satisfaction - Luke Gale

It was like that against Huddersfield, again.

It was a tough one, it wasn’t pretty and the build-up to the game didn’t help.

We turned up to training the day before the match and we had five or six who weren’t allowed to train.

We didn’t know the team until 6pm on game day, for an 8.15pm kick-off, so that’s not ideal.

There’s no excuses, but maybe it did have an effect on us, especially early on.

In the first half I thought we were pretty poor and always on the back foot.

Huddersfield completed at 90-something per cent, but we knew it would turn if we got more of the ball and fixed some things up - and it did.

It was kind of like deja vu all over again from the first game back after Covid, when we came back and beat them by a point.

We took it down to the wire again, but it took me a few more goes this time to land the one-pointer, so it was a little bit more tense.

After I’d missed with two there was a call ‘there’s plenty of pressure, let’s go to someone else’, but there was no way I was letting that happen.

The attempts weren’t great, they were scruffy, but luckily the last one went over and it got us the win - but not the two points.

What it did was boost our win percentage.

That’s a new way of doing things on the league table and I suppose it will take some getting used to, but I can’t see how it’s not a fair method.

There’s so many twists and turns in 2020, nothing is normal.

The way it looks now, we are not going to all play the same number of games so I suppose it makes a bit more sense than points on the league table.

It doesn’t really matter to us, we go out to win anyway so it won’t make any difference.

The only counter argument is if we’ve played 15 games, for example and Wigan have played 17 or 18, it gives them more chance to get their win percentage up; but on the other hand, they could also lose the extra three games.

Something had to be done and I think the RFL and Super League have done well.

It’s a difficult situation for them and nobody has had to deal with this before.

When the fixtures were being drawn up last autumn, I don’t suppose anybody was thinking ‘what do we do if not everyone plays the same number of games’?

I commend them on how they’ve dealt with things, it is far from ideal, but nothing is in 2020 so we just have to be adaptable and keep moving forward.

It’s the same with crowds coming back into stadiums - we all want it to happen, but it is out of our hands.

The goalposts keep getting moved by the government, but as a player I can’t do anything about that.

I can only worry about what I do on the field, not about what I can’t control.

That applies to fixtures, rules and everything else.

We just get told what to do and then we have to make sure we go out and do it.

It was good to get my mate Donno back on Friday.

He was outstanding, he gave us a big lift when he came off the bench.

He broke his back five weeks ago and he hasn’t stopped talking about it ever since.

To go from breaking your back to putting in that performance is a huge effort.

You miss his energy when he doesn’t play, so he has done well.

A message from the Editor:

Leeds has a fantastic story to tell - and the Yorkshire Evening Post has been rooted firmly at the heart of telling the stories of our city since 1890. We believe in ourselves and hope you believe in us too. We need your support to help ensure we can continue to be at the heart of life in Leeds.

A letter from the editor

Subscribe to our website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Click HERE to subscribe. For more details on our newspaper subscription offers click HEREThank you, Laura Collins