Leeds Rhinos prop Matt Prior has paid an emotional tribute to team-mate Rhyse Martin following the passing of the Papua New Guinea star’s father.
Martin lost his dad in the days leading up to the Super League opener at home to Warrington Wolves, which Richard Agar’s side lost 22-20.
The 28-year-old second-rower’s team-mates rallied round him and Martin produced a typically solid performance for the Leeds cause.
“The way Rhyse has handled himself this week is credit to him,” said Prior.
“He’s a tremendous bloke; everything he does, he does at 100 miles an hour.
“What he did on Saturday was special, under the circumstances.
“It was pretty emotional seeing him in there [the changing room] after the game, after giving his all.
“It was touching to see how much effort he gave after what had happened..
“We will just try and be there for him and support him. Credit to Rhyse because he has been amazing.”
Agar is now preparing to lose Martin for a short period of time as the player flies home to Australia to be with his family.
Prior added: “Rhyse is going to try and get home and be with his family, which is good.
“We will be down on troops, but whoever is in there is going to do a good job.
“That’s the calibre of players we’ve got here are what the club’s all about.
“Whoever comes in is going to give their all, we all expect that of each other so I think we’ll be alright.”
Prior scored a try on his 300th career appearance and typically gave his all in a losing cause.
Leeds fought bravely after second-rower James Bentley was dismissed on his debut in the opening quarter of the match.
Both sides also had a player sinbinned, with Brad Dwyer and Oliver Holmes sent to the cooler either side of half-time.
Prior added: “It’s obviously disappointing, but we were down a couple of men, we lost a few players with injuries and the effort was still there.
“I think we can hold our heads up high and be proud of the effort.
“I think we could still have got the two points, regardless of the circumstances, but we will be better next week.
"It was tough to take, but if you keep putting that much effort in, you are going to win games.
“We’ll keep building on that, learn what we can from it and move on.”
Prior said he could understand why referee Chris Kendall dished out the cards as Leeds seek to bounce back from their opening-day defeat when they travel to rivals Wigan Warriors on Friday.
The two-time NRL title winner said: “The refs are cracking down and I guess the rules are the rules and you’ve just got to play by that.
“You know that’s what they are cracking down on, so you’ve just got to be better.
“That kind of effort and commitment is going to take us a long way this year; we just need to be smarter, learn from our mistakes and move on to next week as quickly as we can.
“We’ve got another game and we need to be better.”
