Too many players were way off the mark, says Leeds coach Richard Agar
Leeds coach Richard Agar said too many individuals had poor performances in their 34-12 defeat at Wigan on Friday night.
The Rhinos were only behind 12-6 at the break after debutant Blake Austin initially opened the scoring. However, they conceded three tries within 10 minutes of the second half restart, with Wigan running out 34-12 victors thanks to a hat-trick from Jai Field.
Agar said: “I thought for the first 25 minutes that we were going to have a real contest. Our ball movement was alright and we looked quite threatening with the ball. Defensively, we weren’t too bad.
“But at the end of Matt Prior and Zane Tetevano’s stints we lost the tightness through the middle. The first try just play to the whistle and by the time last 10 came there were some signs in our defence that we don’t like, like our line speed and people getting across our line.
“I felt at half-time when we came out of the changing rooms, I said to one of the staff that I didn’t really feel much reaction from them at half-time to say it was a 12-6 ball game.
“I thought we had some really poor individual performances out there. When we look at the way they scored some of their tries, defensively it was an extremely poor performance.
“I thought we had too many players who were way off the mark.”
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Leeds have lost their first two games of the season to Warrington and Wigan. They will aim to get their first points on the board against Catalans Dragons at Headingley next Thursday.
Agar revealed three players are set to return – David Fusitu’a (concussion), Brad Dwyer (ban) and Harry Newman (injury).
He said: “David, Brad and Newman all have a chance then we’ll have a look at the tape and decide on a team going into that.
“We need to understand the wash-up of what is tonight and if we are going to lose anyone out of that as well.”
Utility back Richie Myler will have surgery on his groin on Monday. However, Agar said they don’t know a timeframe on his recovery as of yet.
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