Brad Arthur’s five main dilemmas to solve at Leeds Rhinos including Jake Connor role

Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur is on the cusp of his first full season at Headingley, but he has plenty of things to fix up if he wants to take his team to the play-offs for 2025. 

Arthur’s introduction following the dismissal of Rohan Smith certainly gave Leeds a lift, however, it was too little too late in the end as Leeds limped into eighth place, two points off the play-offs.

Leeds have already begun the mass overhaul of the squad from last season, with nine players have already left the club for pastures new.

They have also made five new signings, with Maika Sivo, Ryan Hall, Jake Connor, Cooper Jenkins and Keenan Palasia arriving at AMT Headingley.

There will once again be pressure on the club to make the top six, and here are the things Arthur must do if they want to get there.

Get the squad gelled together

There’s always excitement when a new arrival is announced, but as last year proved Leeds will need to get them singing off the same hymn sheet pretty quickly if they want to have success.

The Rhinos’ new-look spine looked clunky for large parts of the season in 2024, however, when they did click it worked very effectively, so Arthur will need to do this again with his latest batch of recruits.

This time around, they aren’t all congested into the spine, which should help things, but the creases in these new combinations still need to be ironed out ASAP if they have any chance of challenging next year.

Getting the best out of Newman and Connor

Leeds have two of the most volatile players in the division in their squad now, but if Arthur can manage them well he could be onto a winning formula.

Jake Connor and Harry Newman have quickly gained a reputation for on-field behaviour, however, when they play at their best they are easily some of the best players in the division – there’s no doubt about that.

If Arthur can get the pair fully focussed on the game and channelling that energy into consistent performances, it should then get the Rhinos’ attack properly firing. They are two excellent players on their day, now it’s just about Arthur bringing the best out of them on a consistent basis.

Power in the pack

There were a lot of issues at Leeds last year, but the pack was beaten far too often, and this needs to change quickly. The Rhinos have been crying out for some more brute force in the front row, and whilst new signings Palasia and Jenkins should help fill this void, the pack needs to become a strength for Leeds.

Wigan’s success in 2024 was based off a huge, dominant pack, with the likes of Luke Thompson, Patrick Mago, Ethan Havard and Kaide Ellis all able to generate consistent go-forward, but the Rhinos have lacked that for the past few years.

Mikolaj Oledzki and Sam Lisone have shown glimpses of it, but again it wasn’t consistent enough to do serious damage against the big boys. Getting the pack to perform consistently should be a high priority for Arthur this year.

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Confidence is key

A huge issue for Leeds last year was also their confidence levels.

Their inconsistencies would have, of course, had a knock-on effect on their confidence, and that in turn potentially fuelled those inconsistent performances. It was clear to see Arthur’s introduction lifted the mood around the club, and that change in atmosphere undoubtedly led to improved levels of performance in the latter stages of the season.

Confidence is a big part of the game at the elite level, and Arthur needs to find a way of instilling this from the start of pre-season.

Pre-season horror

There is going to be plenty of hurt ahead for the Leeds squad on the eve of pre-season, but they are potentially the team who need this the most.

A big pre-season could potentially fix all of the things listed above. It’ll help gel the new signings together, either through the bond of going through things together as a squad or even getting the combinations to click through rugby drills.

It could also help the pack develop their ability to play big minutes, which would help with their levels of consistency throughout games, and it might even increase their confidence as they will feel fitter than everyone else. Arthur has said it will be a tough pre-season for Leeds, but that’s exactly what they need.

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