Brad Arthur slams ‘casual’ Leeds squad after Challenge Cup exit as George Brown update made

Brad Arthur dubbed his Leeds Rhinos squad ‘too casual’ in a blistering putdown of their performance during Friday night’s Challenge Cup exit to Wakefield Trinity.

The Rhinos were beaten 24-14 on a bizarre night at the DIY Kitchens Stadium, which began with the floodlights failing and a lengthy delay, but Leeds forged into a narrow 14-12 half-time lead.

However, they were kept scoreless after the break and Arthur insisted their lengthy travel to Las Vegas earlier this month represented no excuse for that level of display.

Arthur said: “I’m just very disappointed. It’s not who or what we said we wanted to be. We made some poor choices tonight around intensity. It’s a choice; it doesn’t matter – we don’t want to be looking for reasons or excuses about Vegas and travel and all that. It just is what it is.

“We were beaten out of the blocks from the start of the game.”

Arthur pointed to a crucial Wakefield try 30 seconds before half-time, when Jack Sinfield kicked wide for Tom Johnstone before Oli Pratt ultimately finished a wonderful move, as a crucial point.

He said: “I don’t know how we found our way into the lead but we were too casual 30 seconds before half-time. That shows we didn’t have the intent that the game deserved. We couldn’t do a great deal this week but I was hoping that we’d come and we’d have a bit more fight about us. But we just didn’t have it.

“We can sit here and make excuses but it doesn’t matter what’s happened, we made the choice to not put enough into it tonight.”

Leeds’ cause wasn’t helped further when Harry Newman was sin-binned in the final stages, and Arthur reflected: “It doesn’t help, you know? But I don’t know even if he stays there, whether we were doing enough.

“It was costly but it is what it is. It’s going to hurt because we’re out of the competition but we can’t dwell on it. We need to use that hurt and that drive and get it right next week.”

Young half-back George Brown left the field in the second half with what appeared to be a knee problem, and Arthur conceded he will have to go for scans to determine the severity of the issue.

He said: “His knee.. they’re just checking it. The ligament on the outside, I think it’s pretty stable but he’ll need to have a scan to make sure.”