Wigan Warriors v Leeds Rhinos: Brad Arthur hails 'big achievement', reveals quality that earned home play-off

Rhinos complete their regular-season campaign away to Wigan Warriors tomorrow (Friday) and can’t finish any lower than fourth in Betfred Super League, which guarantees them home advantage in an elimination play-off next week. Third place is still mathematically within reach, but Rhinos need to win at Wigan and hope Leigh Leopards, who are one point ahead, suffer defeat to visitors Huddersfield Giants.

It’s more likely Rhinos will be involved in the fourth versus fifth eliminator against St Helens at AMT Headingley on Saturday, September 27 (8pm). Leeds’ previous home play-off was eight years ago and, speaking at his weekly preview press conference today, Arthur insisted: “I think it's a big achievement. If someone had asked us before round one if we would be content with fourth position and a home final, we would have taken it.”

He said: “I feel like the boys have worked really hard. We’ve had our fair share of losses and performances we haven’t been overly happy with, but we’ve been hard to beat. Even in games where we haven’t been at our best, we’ve been beaten by a goal kick or a field goal or it’s a one-try difference.

“We haven’t had any big margins or big scores put on us. Catalans last week, that was probably the best they’ve played in a long time. We know we got a few things wrong, but we were still tough to beat when we weren’t at our best.

“I am pretty happy with that and it has earned us a home final, but the job is certainly not done. We need to continue to play like that right the way through the regular season rounds. We’ve still got one game to go and we are really focused on tomorrow night’s performance.”

Arthur won’t risk players who are carrying a knock, but insisted everyone in his first-choice 17 who is fit will feature against the defending champions in what should be a rehearsal for next week’s sudden-death tie. “We don’t want to fast forward and rest guys to get them ready for next week,” he vowed. “We need to worry about playing this week against a really strong opposition and test ourselves.

“The one thing I wanted to do when I first got here was make sure every player and squad member knew how important every game was week to week. You can’t afford to treat any game any differently. If you’re fortunate enough to get to the finals, the level goes up a gear, but every round from one to 27 is important.

“You can’t flick a switch when you want to be physical or have effort or perform. We get paid to do this every week so we need to continue to do it tomorrow. We are up against tough opposition and if you go into these games half-hearted, you get injuries. We have got to go there focused and prepared to be tough.”