LEEDS RHINOS are no longer “a big club” according to Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin.
The last time the West Yorkshire side won the Super League Grand Final was back in 2017, whilst they lifted the Challenge Cup back in 2020.
The Rhinos are subsequently outside of the play-offs in 2024, and face missing out on the top six for two years running following a dismal 2023.
With that, former head coach Rohan Smith was axed, with ex-Parramatta Eels boss Brad Arthur being given the reins until the end of the 2024 Super League season.
For Wilkin, however, the Rhinos can longer be defined as “a big club” given their lack of success in recent years.
“Well I think to be defined as a big club you have to compete in the biggest of games and you need to be consistent week in and week out,” Wilkin said on Sky Sports.
“For four or five years now, Leeds have just been drifting in the doldrums in that six, seven, eighth spot in the league.
“Now you can project that you are a big club, but unless you competing in the big games, for me you are not a big club.”
“You can spend a year or two drifting and not in that category, but you have seen the number of weeks in the last three seasons they have spent inside the top four.
“Big clubs don’t spend that amount of time outside the top four. The club is, in scale, commercially, off the field, a big club, but there is a mismatch between the expectations of the fans and this current playing squad of where they have been at for some time.
“It’s doing my head in, on TV, criticising Leeds for underachieving. I don’t believe they are, I believe they are where they should be – fifth or sixth is a good result for them, seventh or eighth would be a bad result.”
The Rhinos currently sit in eighth in the Super League table.
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