Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott has insisted his side will not get away despite keeping up the pace with league leaders Castleford following a fourth successive win on Friday night.
The Rhinos beat Wigan 26-18 in a thoroughly entertaining game at Headingley Carnegie to keep their revival since their hammering at the hands of the Tigers going.
Yet McDermott insisted Leeds have to keep going, rather than rest on their laurels, after ending the month pinpointed as crucial by Gary Hetherington in perfect fashion.
“I still don’t think I can tell you it’s a blip what happened four weeks ago,” he said. “Add another four weeks of improved performances and wins and we can look back on it as a blip.
“But I knew it was a blip at the time, we just faced a really hot team on the night. It wasn’t the case that we had four weeks to save jobs.”
McDermott was also quick to heap praise on in-form Rhinos centre Kallum Watkins, who scored on his 200th appearance for the club.
“It’s just a joy to watch when he’s like that,” he said of Watkins.
“He backed himself. Wigan have got some speedsters and he said ‘catch me if you can’.
“But I thought the pass from Danny McGuire was top drawer and Kallum’s game needs to be underpinned by the likes of Carl Ablett, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Adam Cuthbertson and those type of people.
“It was a real tiresome game. Wigan never went away, every time we threatened to put more points on them, they came back and made it a real contest.”
