Salford Red Devils v Leeds: Five takeaways as Rhinos show ‘Brad Arthur identity’ in dominant win

Following Leeds Rhinos’ 32-6 win over Salford Red Devils in round two, here are our key takeaways from an emphatic performance from Brad Arthur’s men.

The top line

For all the off-field issues that have gone on at Salford, they seemed to brush that off fairly quickly with a try after one minute.

A delicious 40-20 from Marc Sneyd gifted them the ball deep in Leeds’ half, and they turned it into points through a powerful Kallum Watkins charge.

Leeds responded well, though, and could have had a try of their own too after setting up camp within Salford’s 10-metre, but James Bentley spilt the ball and the chance went begging.

The momentum was firmly with the visitors, however, and they finally took advantage with a quick-fire double. Riley Lumb was at hand for the first, as he latched onto Jake Connor’s clever kick to score, and his effort was quickly followed up by Morgan Gannon who powered his way over the line amid some stern Salford defence.

Lumb was at it again minutes later too, as he finished off a superb strike play to cross out wide.

With the clock winding down, Connor extended his side’s lead to 10 points with an easy penalty goal.

The Rhinos’ superiority continued in the second-half too, with Ash Handley notching his side’s fourth of the game after a nice show of his footballing skills.

Salford nearly hit back with an effort of their own after a stellar Nene Macdonald line-break, but a costly Chris Hill knock-on brought the attack to a grinding halt.

Just as the hosts began to get a foothold in the contest, James Bentley struck with a clever interception to score his side’s fifth of the game.

Moments after, though, a scrumptious counter-attack from the Salford left edge looked to have got them within striking distance, but once again Bentley was on hand to make a fine interception. This time, though, there was no try at the end of it.

Leeds icon Ryan Hall was the next Rhino to put a dent in the scoreboard, as he strolled over after a sharp Connor bullet pass.

The former Huddersfield man could have put the final nail in the coffin with a penalty at the death, but his effort sailed just wide.

Finally

It’s over, it’s finally over.

As Sky Sports commentator Dave Woods said, it’s currently 11-0 to the referees with regards to the Captain’s Challenge. 11-straight unsuccessful challenges…

Until Ash Handley stepped in to change it and finally achieved a successful one.

The Captain’s Challenge is certainly a good addition to the league, given its success in the NRL, and hopefully, this is a sign of how it could work on our shores.

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Leeds Rhinos injury woes continue

Leeds half-back Brodie Croft picked up a serious-looking concussion late into the first-half, and it led to a lengthy pause in play.

Later on, Leeds issued a statement on X confirming co-captain Cameron Smith was also withdrawn at half-time and was now in a boot and on crutches.

Hopefully, they aren’t as serious as they first appeared.

This is undoubtedly a huge blow to the Rhinos, given how influential they are to their attack, but it is also the latest in a line of injury concerns at Headingley too, with Mikolaj Oledzki, Lachie Miller, Maika Sivo, Jack Sinfield, Ned McCormack, Ben Littlewood and Max Simpson are all currently on the sidelines through various injuries too.

The club have confirmed some of those will be back up and running soon, though, but it’s still a lot of injuries for Arthur to be dealing with so early into the new season.

Leeds Rhinos finally show true Brad Arthur identity

If fans were disappointed by their performance last weekend, they will surely be a lot happier with this display.

On both sides of the ball, they just seemed a lot more settled, improved and confident in everything they were doing.

This is the identity Brad Arthur wants his side to have, and it looks like they’ve finally achieved it.

Let’s start with their attack, shall we?

Leeds played with a real fizz today when they had the ball, led by the mercurial Jake Connor. There was just a tad more invention about their attack today, they just looked to try things they might not have done in the past.

Take Lumb’s second try, for instance. Normally, Leeds just shovel the ball to Matt Frawley on tackle five for him to hoof back to the opposition, but on this play, the ball found its way to Connor, who just squared up his opposite number and connected with Handley, who in turn put the try on a plate for Lumb.

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It wasn’t just this too. Their opening score again saw Connor used on tackle five deep in Salford territory, rather than their usual play of finding Brodie Croft, and it was that extra bit of invention that saw him take on the stab kick, but with it coming from a bit wider than expected it caused havoc for the Salford defence and led to Lumb dotting down.

Ash Handley’s score in the second-half was yet another example of them showing a bit of invention. Late in the tackle count, they gave Newman the ball, who in turn put in a kick towards his fellow England international to then send him over the whitewash.

Even the call to put Morgan Gannon in the halves was inspired and actually had a really good effect on the rest of their attacking shape too.

Leeds have always had the potential to play with champagne rugby, but it seems Arthur has given his men the confidence to try new things and unlock their true potential.

In defence, they looked to have returned to that hard graft that helped their rapid transformation at the end of the 2024 season.

Last time out, Leeds were jumpy and potentially over-eager, but today they were just a lot more connected and solid.

Keenan Palasia and Cooper Jenkins added some serious beef to their middle unit, which was lacking last year, Bentley was awesome on his edge and managed his opposite number well, and even when Salford found space Leeds just managed to scramble back and hold them out.

79 minutes without conceding is a fair effort and deserves all the plaudits it gets.

What to make of Salford in 2025?

This was the first chance to see Salford’s full-noise team on the pitch, but we still don’t quite know what to make of them.

Characteristically, they had some attacking flourishes and could pose plenty of questions for any opposition.

Nene Macdonald and Esan Marsters stole the show for the Red Devils today, and they looked like a dangerous combination. The pair just read each other brilliantly on the counter and made some decent in-roads through the Leeds defence as a result.

But, when it mattered most, Salford couldn’t find a way through. There was a lack of serious threat when they entered Leeds’ 20-metre area, with very limited options other than to hit a charging middle – which Leeds dealt with well. They also coughed up possession cheaply just as they looked to strike, and if they want to make the play-offs again they cannot afford to do that.

In defence, they just couldn’t handle Leeds either. The front-row unit came under the pump from the likes of Palasia and Jenkins, and the edge defence again struggled to cope against the Leeds onslaught.

Salford weren’t at the races today, but hopefully, with the off-field issues resolved, they will be back to their usual ways sooner rather than later.

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