Richard Agar pays tribute to departing duo

Leeds coach Richard Agar has paid tribute to departing duo Konrad Hurrell and Rob Lui.

The Rhinos fell short to a 30-8 defeat to St Helens in the Super League semi-finals last night.

The defeat brought to an end the Leeds careers of stand-off Rob Lui, who is returning home to Australia, and centre Konrad Hurrell, who is thought to be heading to St Helens, and Agar paid tribute to the departing duo.

Richard Agar said: “Rob Lui has had a wonderful career and he’s a champions bloke. He’s in tears in there, he’s such a popular guy within our club.

“Konny has made a big impression on our club. He’s such a popular and engaging guy and I know the fans love him.

“He’s moving over here and he’s coming to a great club. That’s the nature of professional sport with a salary cap and he goes with our best wishes.”

It looked a game too far for Leeds, with Agar having no complaints over the result.

“We were beaten by the better team,” he said. “We weren’t good enough.

“I didn’t think we delivered to anywhere near the standard we needed to. It’s a disappointing night and it will hurt but, at the same time, you have to pay tribute to the opposition because they were really impressive.

“They put under relentless pressure but I thought we showed a lot of fight after a torrid start. The sin-binning in the second half really hurt us.

“We played a team that would have beat anybody tonight playing the way they did. If they’re the benchmark, we’ve a bit to do to catch up but we’re heading in the right direction.

“We’ve got plenty to build on and I’m excited about what the next year or two can bring.”