Leeds Rhinos Jury: Fingers crossed for the big one after '˜lucky' win against Rovers
ADAM ANDERSON
The luckiest win you will see all season was ours against Hull Kingston Rovers at The Clash last week at Elland Road. We didn’t deserve to win, we dropped too much ball.
The thing that won it for us was the defence, Hull KR were on our line for the majority of the game and credit goes to them, they should have had the game sealed by half-time but they could only score two tries for all that dominance.
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Hide AdLuckily, up stepped Jimmy Keinhorst who is fastly becoming the new Mr Reliable in the squad.
His utility value is enormous and it comes as no surprise we’ve refused a few offers from other clubs in the past few weeks.
Hopefully we can get him tied down to a new contract as soon as possible.
This week we have the trip to Melbourne for the World Club Challenge.
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Hide AdI’m not sure what I expect of the boys in this game. They should just give it their all and hopefully we don’t get any more injuries as they are tallying up now.
Good luck lads.
DIANNE HALL
It was billed as The Clash and the return of the Leeds legend Danny McGuire. As is often the case with ex-players he had a very good game, which nearly came back to bite us on the proverbial.
We clearly had our minds on tomorrow’s big game and made far too many errors. Hull Kingston Rovers managed the awful weather conditions better and deserved something from the game I thought.
Another returning player Stevie Ward made an immediate impact, supplying the pass for Adam Cuthbertson to open our account. Someone else who caught my eye was Jimmy Keinhorst, who dragged us back level with his first try. Our goalline defence was once again outstanding as was Ryan Hall who made numerous strong runs causing no end of problems for the Rovers defence.
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Hide AdIt wasn’t a memorable game, but we got the two points to give us a boost for the important game tomorrow.
I hope that Jimmy Keinhorst, gets a start tomorrow after his hat-trick and man-of-the-match performance (in my opinion).
Bring it back home boys!
MATT FOWLER
Grand Final weather, but not a Grand Final performance against Hull Kingston Rovers. Probably one to forget but the goalline defence stood up to some good pressure which is always a good sign so early in the season.
Champion teams find a way to win so let us take the two points and move on.
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Hide AdWe move on by jetting 12,000 miles across the world to take on Melbourne Storm in the World Club Challenge.
This is a massive challenge and one the boys really need to embrace.
One key man for the Rhinos will not even take to the field on game day.
Jason Davidson has a key role in ensuring the players are fresh and as jet-lag free as possible, which I am confident, he can achieve.
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Hide AdThere is no doubt the Aussie press will be writing us off, but we have a huge chance to make some history.
The boys need to be error free and pull out a big performance but there is no doubt they have the talent to succeed.
If we can believe we can do it then we are half way there. Enjoy it.
CHRISTINE KIDD
The first Rhinos ‘home’ game of the season took place at Elland Road on a wet and windy Thursday evening. Ex-Leeds great Danny McGuire played against Leeds for the first time.
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Hide AdRovers were determined to improve after their loss the previous week to Wakefield Trinity.
They certainly did that and were the better team for large parts of the game.
They played the conditions much better than the Rhinos, and, in particular, their kick-offs were superb.
To our players’ credit, there was no panic in the ranks at any time during the game.
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Hide AdThe players believed that they could turn the game around and a hat-trick by Jimmy Keinhorst made that belief come true.
Tomorrow we take on Melbourne Storm in a game that, according to many, we have little or no chance of winning.
This suits Leeds down to the ground.
The only people who need to think that they can win are the players.
Although we are missing a few in the forwards we know that the players will give their all to try and bring that trophy back to Yorkshire.
IAN SHARP
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Hide AdThe Clash turned out to be more like a wet weekend in Bognor with Bucks Fizz and just like Bucks Fizz we seemed to have lost our sparkle.
It was a terrible game, played in a stadium with no atmosphere on a dreadful night, with a referee [Robert Hicks] that must have got a new whistle for Christmas!
The sooner we get our home games back to Headingley the better for me.
A much bigger test awaits us this week with Melbourne Storm up next in the World Club Challenge and from all reports they all queueing up to play.
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Hide AdBilly Slater has said he is fit and ready to play and with captain Cameron Smith running the pack, I think we are going to struggle.
The big question is can we win? I am forever the optimist, but it’s going to be an uphill struggle.
If we are still in it with 20 minutes to go then maybe we could just pull it off.
The bigger issue for me is how it will affect us when we come back home, and try to pick up where we left off in the league.
GRAHAM POULTER
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Hide AdBlimey, Leeds certainly made hard work of the game against Hull KR. A bit like a car that couldn’t find the gears, it was a very clunky out of sorts performance from everyone in a Leeds jersey.
Yes, it’s still early in the season and I am going to use the wet weather as an excuse for their inability to hold on to the ball in several situations during the game. But you don’t have to play well in every game, good champion teams know how to find a way out of the paper bag they found themselves in.
Taking it all into account, it was all about gaining the two points and continuing our unbeaten start to the season.
The huge positive was once again our impressive defensive performance; the downside was yet another injury to another forward.
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Hide AdNext up is the huge challenge that awaits us in the Word Club Challenge at Melbourne Storm. It’s our greatest challenge and would be our greatest win if we can do the business.
I’m sure we have the defence to cope with them, so we will have to be clinical in attack and take our chances to have a chance of victory.