Leeds Rhinos 2024 season review

YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on Leeds Rhinos' disappointing 2024 campaign.

Transcript

00:00So what to make of Lidrano's 2024 season? Obviously the first thing to say is it was

00:07bitterly disappointing. Again, to finish 8th for a second successive year isn't good enough

00:12for the eight-time champions and one of the undisputed big clubs in the game. Statistically

00:19it was a little bit better than last year believe it or not. They got 28 points which is four more

00:25than in 2023 and only one fewer than when they reached the grand final two years ago. That said,

00:33Leeds never really got hold of a place in the top six and they just left themselves too much to do

00:40when it came down to the last 10 games or so of the season under Brad Arthur. A few defeats cost

00:47them really. The loss at Salford when they were 12-0 up after five minutes, that was a big one

00:52and it was always going to be hard to come back from that. A few results went for them elsewhere

00:59and that kept them in the hunt but coming to the end of the season away games to finish off at

01:05Wigan and hold KR the top two, that was always going to be a little bit too much of a mountain

01:09to climb. There were some bad results earlier in the season that also proved costly. For example,

01:14losing at home to Huddersfield when again they had more than a 10-point lead a couple of times

01:21in the game. They lost at Hull FC, a team who finished second from bottom and only won three

01:29games all season. That was another really costly defeat. Leeds were in front in a lot of games and

01:33just couldn't manage to hold on so game management is something that will have to be looked at by

01:39Brad Arthur over the pre-season. He's actually got the players in this time for a couple of weeks

01:46before they go on their off-season break which is an unusual departure for Leeds. It's not

01:51what they normally do but he said they should be training at this time of the year anyway

01:55for playoffs so he's going to keep them in and give them a taste of what to expect

02:00over the months before the season starts again in February. It's going to be a long,

02:04tough pre-season for Leeds. I expect to see probably three new faces in the squad on top

02:11of the one that's already been announced which is Ryan Hall. Hopefully it will be a stronger squad

02:15next season but there's a lot resting on who spotting director Ian Blees can bring in. I'm

02:21certainly going to miss Rhys Martin who was one of Leeds' top two players this season along with

02:27Ash Hanley, the only Leeds player who got into the Dream Team. He's going to hulk out and he's

02:31going to be missed not just for his goalkeeping but his general play so it's a big off-season

02:36coming up for Leeds Rhinos because this club is too big to be missing out on the playoffs

02:40on a consistent basis. They've been eighth the last two seasons, they have to do better next year,

02:46they have to get back not just into the top six but into the top four and at the moment

02:50that looks quite some distance off so a big pre-season coming up.