Leeds Rhinos star makes bold Super League prediction following Castleford Tigers victory

Leeds star Jarrod O’Connor insists a top-two finish in Super League this season isn’t beyond the Rhinos’ reach, and believes they’re ‘getting themselves ready’ to compete in big games.

O’Connor and his team-mates picked up a fifth win in six games on Saturday afternoon as they got the better of Castleford Tigers at The Jungle, winning 29-6.

During that run, current Super League leaders Hull KR are the only team to have gotten the better of Brad Arthur’s side, who have now won eight of their 12 league games so far this term.

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Leeds Rhinos star makes bold Super League prediction following Castleford Tigers victory

The Rhinos now sit 3rd in the table, and only trail second-placed Wigan by two competition points – though the Warriors are in action on Saturday evening over in France against Catalans Dragons.

O’Connor, the son of former Super League stalwart turned pundit Terry, made his Leeds bow back in 2020 and now has over 100 senior appearances on his CV for the Headingley outfit.

Hailing from Widnes, the 23-year-old was awarded Sky Sports’ Player of the Match medal following the Rhinos’ win at Castleford, and was asked about his team’s ambitions for the remainder of the season.

He said: “Definitely 100% the play-offs, that’s the minimum. Top two is definitely what we’re aiming for and it’s not out of reach.

“We’re not looking at league positions too much, but we know we’re starting to string a few performances together.

“There have been a few performances when we’ve lost by a couple of points, and we just need to clean those up.

“But I think we’ve started to show that (we can do that) now, and the last couple of weeks, we’ve been improving.

“We’re definitely getting ready for those big games.”

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