Leeds Rhinos dubbed ‘useless for six years’ by Jon Wilkin as bold Brad Arthur prediction made

Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin has insisted that Leeds Rhinos’ hierarchy are under pressure from ‘minute one’ in 2025: before saying the club have been ‘useless’ for six years.

Wilkin, never one to hold back from giving his opinion, was speaking on Sky Sports after the fixtures for the 2025 campaign were revealed on Thursday morning in full.

The Rhinos once again failed to make the play-offs in 2024 and have invested heavily yet again in a bid to try and turn around the club’s fortunes.

Leeds have not won a Super League title since 2017 – though they did make the Grand Final under Rohan Smith in 2022 – and have signed the likes of Ryan Hall and Maika Sivo ahead of Arthur’s first full season in charge.

Wilkin stressed that the pressure and the eyeballs will be on Leeds, Arthur and Ian Blease from the very start ahead of their opening game against newly-promoted Wakefield Trinity.

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He said: “Leeds are the story because they’re under pressure from minute one, game one: Ian Blease and Brad Arthur are under pressure.”

Wilkin then insisted he is intrigued to see how the Rhinos react after a tough and uncompromising off-season under Arthur before saying: “They’ve been useless for six years, five or six years. They’ve got resources coming out of their ears and the club is exceptional off the field. But I tell you now, where they’ve been is just not good enough.

“They know that. If there’s one group of fans when we go round the stadiums in a year who support some things we said, it’s just how poor Leeds have been.

“Brad Arthur said he’s going to change the mentality and get them rock-hard fit. They didn’t have time off after their last game last year, they trained through to the Grand Final. And not just trained, they got hammered. I’m talking the most disgusting physical training. I’d expect to see a fit Leeds and a disciplined Leeds.”

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