BRAD ARTHUR believes his Leeds Rhinos squad is in top shape for the Super League play-offs – thanks to training “harder and for longer”.
In Arthur’s first full year as head coach, Leeds earned a first top-four finish since their last title-winning campaign of 2017.
It means they host an eliminator tie this Saturday at AMT Headingley, where St Helens provide the opposition.
With Jake Connor and Ash Handley returning from rib and groin injuries respectively, and the trio of Lachlan Miller, Ryan Hall and Andy Ackers in contention after being rested for their final-round game at Wigan Warriors, Leeds have almost a fully-fit squad to choose from.
And Arthur credits the work done since the beginning of pre-season to get the squad right for the run-in.
“It’s really important at this stage of the year,” he said of their health.
“We get those guys back this week and (have) everyone outside Cam Smith and Maika (Sivo), who hasn’t played all season.
“It’s a credit to our performance staff, they’ve done a really good job.
“We set out to train harder and for longer and on back-to-back days to make the team more resilient, and hopefully we will get the rewards for it at the back end of the year with a healthy squad.”
Leeds don’t go into the play-offs in the best form, however, having lost their last two games of the regular season against Catalans Dragons and then Wigan.
“We’ve been in every contest. We’ve just let some frustration boil over into guys trying too hard,” said Arthur.
“We know that when everyone concentrates on their job and allows the other guys to do their job, we’re a good team. It’s when blokes go outside of their job description and think they’ve got to win it on their own or chase the scoreboard.
“We’ve had a lot of opportunities, we just haven’t made the most of them in the last couple of weeks.
“But all that means nothing now, it’s a totally new ball game and we’ve got to get excited by it. Getting the simple things right in these big games is going to be a priority.
“The group has worked really hard after 27 rounds to put ourselves in this position, but it’s not going to count for much unless we go out there and give a good account of ourselves for 80 minutes and make the most of it.
“We’ve worked to get a home final, now we need to work harder to turn it into something.”