Rhyse Martin admitted he was still trying to come to terms with Kruise Leeming’s shock departure from Leeds Rhinos following last night’s derby defeat at Castleford Tigers. But the popular second-rower believes Rohan Smith’s side are well placed to cope with Leeming’s exit with the emergence of Jarrod O’Connor.
With Corey Johnson also rated highly at Headingley – and second-rower James Bentley able to play at hooker – Martin feels the Rhinos have sufficient quality in the game’s most pivotal position. Rugby League Live broke the news of Leeming’s impending move from Leeds shortly before their 14-8 loss at Wheldon Road on Thursday night in front of the live Sky Sports cameras.
“The first I heard of it was after the Cas game,” Martin told Rugby League Live. “I’m not too sure what to say on that and I guess we’ll hear more about it during the week.
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“But Jarrod has taken his opportunity at hooker with both hands and done really well. Corey had a really good game with the reserves a couple of weeks ago and Bentos can kind of play anywhere.
“He had a bit of a stint in the middle against Cas and a few minutes in at nine… apparently he was a hooker back in the day! But Jarrod and Corey – and especially Jarrod because Corey hasn’t really had a shot recently – are quality hookers.”
The dismal loss to a Castleford side winless in their previous four outings in 2023 was a bitter disappointment for Leeds, who had arrived at Wheldon Road in confident mood. They beat champions St Helens and Wakefield Trinity but could not claim a third successive victory against Andy Last’s Tigers.
Martin said: “We weren’t great against Cas and they played a really solid game with lots of energy. They forced errors from us and we couldn’t complete, so we just need to learn from that and build towards next week against Catalans.”
Significantly, Martin believes Leeds can engineer another title challenge this year, having reached Old Trafford under Smith last September, losing to Saints. The Papua New Guinea international declared: “We can definitely get there again and just need to keep building as a team.
“We can’t let a performance like we put in against Cas knock us back and make us lose confidence. Recent performances showed us what we are capable of, but we just lost our way a bit on Thursday night. I think as a club we’re heading in the right direction, but we can’t have performances like we put in against Cas too often.”
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