- 01/06/2025
Coach Brad Arthur gives his thoughts on Leeds Rhinos' tense 22-18 derby win against Wakefield Trinity at AMT Headingley, in the annual MND awareness fixture.
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00:00It's been a special day for so many reasons, just to focus on the rugby to start with, what were your thoughts on the game?
00:08We were very good in the first half, then we had some changes, forced changes to the second half, and going into the breeze, we probably didn't manage the game as well as we did in the first half, but I think they really come after the game in the second half.
00:30Credit to them, they had plenty of fight, and hindsight is a lovely thing, after the game we can sit here and we learnt another way how to win, which was good, and what I did learn, there's plenty under the bonnet in the team, so that's what really pleased me, I'm proud of their efforts, the want and the desire was there, we made it tough at times, but they also made it tough for us at times too, we didn't do it.
01:00A heap of things wrong, they were just really good in the second half, had a lot of possession, but to hang on, and there's plenty of reasons why we need to get up today, you know, obviously, the whole emotion around Rob and his family,
01:14Nikolai 200, Sam Lassoni 200, chasing four wins in a row, so there was plenty of reasons, which sometimes they heat pressure, I felt like, you know, it was only a month ago that we didn't handle the pressure too well against whole KR, and got run down, so,
01:34you can see that we've grown again as a team, and we're chasing a performance, not so much the result today, but we've got a good, strong performance, which ended up in a good win.
01:45Yeah, 22-6 at half time, so many positives, what were the key takeaways from your perspective on that first quarter?
01:53Our control was really good, we executed really well, the things that we've been, I think we've got better, and we understand what sort of team we want to be, what we want to look like, how we want to play, I think they're getting better at that,
02:06and we actually know it, it's executing that all the time, which we've seen again today, you know, we didn't execute that, you know, to the best of our ability in the second half,
02:16but there's probably some circumstances around it, but in the first 40 minutes, I thought we executed our plan really well, on what sort of team we want to be, and what we want to look like.
02:25And then we lost Lockie, he was about five minutes before half time, he said his calf was no good, so we got him through to half time, then we made those changes in half time.
02:35Yeah, you mentioned Lockie there, not coming out, how is he in terms of, you know, how much length of the layoff?
02:41Yeah, until we get the scan on Monday, we won't know, but it's a calf injury, you know, I was super proud of him to brave it out for us till half time,
02:49gave us time to talk about the changes that we need to make, cost us an interchange, you know, so we're only down to four in the second half,
02:57and with the amount of possession they had in the field position, I thought our forwards done a really good job and hung on,
03:02and, you know, it's a credit to them, they worked hard in the pre-season, and that's where you get paid back your rewards to those like today.
03:08Without Lockie in that second half, what were the kind of main disruptions, why did we see such a swing in the game compared to the first half, what do you say?
03:18Well, I just think they had more possession, yeah, and field position, they had a strong breeze behind their back.
03:23I felt like at times we'd done enough in the ruck, we blew it up to get some, like, 60 goes of penalties,
03:29and they'd done a good job of getting into the tackles late, so I felt like we could have got a few more rewards there,
03:36and I also believe that the try was an obstruction.
03:40James Bentley can't get off that man, he runs an outside shoulder, and he just, like, that's part of,
03:46the guys making those decisions need to understand the defensive systems, and James Bentley can't get off,
03:51I take offence to them saying that James Bentley made the initial contact, his movements are to get off,
03:59so I take offence to that as a coach, because we don't coach our players to do that, to take dives or deliberately,
04:09you know, we've worked hard on it at this point, mate, and the boys need credit for it.
04:11You mentioned earlier about your players having things under the bonnet,
04:16are you talking about, you know, their commitment to the defence, their resilience, their commitment?
04:20A bit of want, desire, you know, for them, for each other, for their teammates,
04:25for the club, for their badge, you know, there's, yeah, they showed it today,
04:30and I feel like we have shown that pretty consistently,
04:33hasn't been a game yet where I can go back to the review day and actually challenge them
04:38about their want or desire or how they've turned up, you know,
04:41they're coming ready to play, and I think that's all our club wants,
04:44is a team that they can be proud of, that knowing that, well, they're going to come,
04:47and we want to always be at our best, but they're going to have a crack for us today.
04:51Last one for me, it's your first MND Awareness Day, as had coach,
04:56it was quite a day, it was special, wasn't it?
04:58It is special, and it's special for Rob's family that it ended that way,
05:03you know, I'm sure no one with the last couple of minutes wanted it to be in that situation,
05:08but it probably makes them feel proud and privileged, you know,
05:15as well as the family that the guys really put in and made sure that they got the job done.
05:20Brandon, I don't want to go too deep into your situation,
05:23but is it becoming increasingly difficult to leave all this behind?
05:27Yeah, look, I've said it all the way through,
05:32my only decision I have to make is my family,
05:35and that's the only thing that's holding me back, mate,
05:37because I really like the club, they keep winning, they keep playing well,
05:41they keep buying in, well, not even the winning part of it,
05:43they just keep buying in and giving all the time,
05:45look, yeah, it does make it hard,
05:47but at the end of the day, you know,
05:50I've got to be a family person, and I feel like I'm not doing that,
05:53so, you know, when Lizzie pushes me for an answer,
05:57I'll have to give him one.
05:58Yeah, but you've got something brewing here, haven't you?
06:00Well, not me, it's not me, we've got great staff here,
06:04you know, there's a good playing group, it's well run,
06:07so it's the club, look, I'm just a person that's helping that at the moment,
06:10and look, the club's bigger than the coach,
06:14the club's bigger than one player, mate,
06:16and so, like, it's here,
06:18and the players and the rest of the staff will drive it,
06:22and the rest of the staff are doing a great job.
06:24Where do you feel this group can get to, with or without you?
06:28Well, we've got a week off, so they can have a rest,
06:32promised them a little bit of a rest,
06:34and then we've got Warrington,
06:35so that's what I'm worried about at the moment,
06:37where we can get to and see if we can, you know,
06:40get better with our performances and back that first half up
06:43and then do a bit better in the second half.
06:46Brad, when you lose an interchange
06:48and you've got to sort of mess around a bit,
06:50guys like Jared O'Connor, I think the staff said he had 61 tackles today,
06:53I mean, that kind of sums up what you're looking for, doesn't it,
06:55that want and that desire, Jared, like, from the front?
06:57Yeah, he just keeps doing his job, doesn't he, over and over,
07:00and then, you know, like, all the forwards,
07:03like, it's a bit of a reward for the hard work they've done in the pre-season,
07:07and we needed to draw on it today, you know,
07:08like, they got pushed to circumstances that they normally wouldn't have to,
07:12but when you need to be able to find it, they were able to find it.
07:16And, you know, we always sort of go into a game with a bit of an interchange plan,
07:19but very rarely I can stick to that.
07:23And that's the bit I'm really enjoying about the group,
07:26is that they're flexible and they know that I'm just trying to make the decisions
07:29that I feel are best for the team, and they just get on with the job.
07:32But in terms of signings, mid-season,
07:35Callum must be pretty high up in ones you've encountered.
07:37I mean, I think he played about four different positions today, didn't he?
07:39I said the blue easy.
07:40I said he'd probably go down as his best ever mid-season bye.
07:44He's been really good, hasn't he?
07:46Yeah.
07:47And he sort of makes it easier.
07:49Guys like that, you know, with their experience, make it easy
07:51because I don't have to worry about them, him and Hawley, you know,
07:53and how they prepare themselves, how they get ready to play,
07:55what they've got to do.
07:57It gives me more time to spend on the less experienced guys
08:00or the guys that I need to put a bit more time into.
08:02So they're really beneficial to me as a coach, those guys,
08:06and it just shows that I can put him anywhere.
08:08I can put him on the left wing, right wing,
08:10and he's just a good little job for you.
08:12Right.
08:12There's something about the fella being named number seven on Leeds.
08:16It seems he'd been pivotal in the win, isn't there?
08:18What's that, sorry?
08:19Something about the fella being named at number seven,
08:21i.e. Jake Conner, pivotal in the Leeds win, isn't there?
08:25Jake done a good job.
08:26Yeah, done a really good job.
08:27First half was really good and had to move him to full-back.
08:30I feel like half-back probably moving forward is going to be his best position.
08:37He can certainly be six, but I feel like he's stepped up to the role of managing a team.
08:46He needed to be better in the second half, and he's aware of that,
08:48and he'll learn some lessons out of it.
08:50But the good thing about it, he walked straight off the field,
08:54and he was just worried about a couple of things he got wrong in the second half.
08:57So that shows you the sign of a bloke that wants a bit of growth in his game,
09:00wants to improve.
09:02All over there like that, you know, it'll be a lot easier to get the job done moving forward.
09:07Any thoughts on the semi-bid?
09:10I need to go back and watch it.
09:11You know, James Bentley, we love him, like his effort and his physicality,
09:16and challenged him today to have 80 minutes of concentration.
09:19Well, he had 78 minutes, so he's getting closer.
09:22But he just, it was just an effort play, and maybe just got a little bit,
09:29you know, he just got a bit over-aggressive with it.
09:32But it was an important time of the game where he knew that we needed something,
09:35and he needed some inside pressure.
09:37So I'd have to go back and watch it, but yeah.
09:40Yeah, I don't know.
09:43We hung on, but anyway, so it's the main thing.
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