Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur

Yorkshire Evening Post

Coach Brad Arthur reflects on Leeds Rhinos' 18-16 Boxing Day win v Wakefield Trinith.

Transcript

00:00Or a lot of positives from that cross?

00:03Yeah, the majority of the squad got through healthy, which is nice.

00:10They're sending them off on their break now.

00:13I thought physically we were pretty good.

00:16We looked fit.

00:20Our effort areas were good.

00:24Physically we were good.

00:27Most got through, obviously.

00:29Yeah, so he was going for scans.

00:32They're thinking maybe MCL.

00:35But that's early days, so you don't want to jump the gun.

00:40Connor, obviously.

00:42He was good.

00:43Happy with him?

00:44Yeah, he was good.

00:45He'd done a couple of good things with the ball.

00:48He let a couple of kicks bounce early.

00:50He missed his assignment on a couple of bits and pieces here and there.

00:53But overall, he was good.

00:55How did you rate all your new signings?

00:58They all got a decent amount of time.

01:00Yeah, most of them got 40.

01:02The plan was to get them all, try and get everyone 40 minutes or a bit more.

01:09Yeah, they'd done all right.

01:12Well, Cooper had a cork, so we didn't let him play it in for 20 minutes.

01:17But, yeah, he might have had some good touches.

01:19He could probably score that try on the runaway.

01:23And then, yeah, Keenan had done some good things,

01:26and he had to cover in the back row a bit for us.

01:29But he's more of a middle, and that's where we want him to play.

01:32Some strong carries from Hawley.

01:35Yeah, no, Hawley was good.

01:37Yeah, he was good.

01:39Out of the backfield, got us started.

01:42Tom, Holroyd didn't get a lot of game time.

01:45Did he get through all right?

01:46Yeah, the plan was only to give him 15 minutes

01:49because he'd been training really well.

01:51And then he got a strain in his quad,

01:55and he was out for a couple of weeks,

01:57and he's probably only been back in just a bit over a week training.

02:00So the last thing we want to do, they've all been working hard,

02:05is send them away for their break, and they're injured.

02:08So we just rather, well, I know it's nice for the fans about the result,

02:13but it wasn't about a win or a loss today for me.

02:16It was about making sure that the boys got running their legs.

02:18They've got to make a few runs, a few tackles,

02:20and they all got sort of healthy and can go away, have a rest, come back ready.

02:25Having said that, it was a nice moment for the young kid.

02:28Yeah, it was great for him.

02:29Yeah, but when I told him that he was going to get an opportunity,

02:32that he might get a bit of game time,

02:34he couldn't take the smile off his face, which was a great response.

02:37And then it was just he's tenacious and commitment,

02:42and he competes hard, and he just wanted that ball,

02:45and he wanted that try more than they wanted to stop it.

02:49So that was good for him.

02:51Have you been happy with the kids?

02:52Because one or two of them have been training with the first team.

02:54They've been doing bits and pieces.

02:56And look, today is an experience for them.

02:59I knew they'd get a few things wrong, but as to how they responded to it,

03:04and they did get a few things wrong, and then they responded all right,

03:08and they kept going to the game.

03:09So it's experience that you can't give them through training.

03:13The only way they can get it is by playing.

03:16We're fortunate that John today doesn't – it's not worth two points,

03:21so it doesn't matter.

03:23Just for me, how's Alfie?

03:27Yeah, so he's had his op, and he looks pretty good.

03:30We're just awaiting him now.

03:34It could be eight weeks, ten weeks.

03:37So it's a real shame for him, isn't it?

03:39Because he trained so well, and he's seen some massive improvements.

03:43He was the one guy I was looking forward to seeing today,

03:47because he would have started at fullback.

03:50He's done a really good job in the preseason

03:53and working on some areas of his game.

03:55But that will probably make him a bit stronger from here.

03:59He's dealing with disappointment.

04:02Thanks, bro.

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