{"id":1189290,"date":"2026-09-06T08:13:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1189290\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T08:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T08:13:35","slug":"leeds-rhinos-doubters-out-in-full-force-as-stark-reality-dawns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1189290\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos doubters out in full force as stark reality dawns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The league table shows how far Leeds Rhinos<\/a> have come. This night at Headingley shows they\u2019ve still got some way to go.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With silverware on the line, Leeds were well and truly outplayed by Wigan Warriors, who will now secure their second trophy of the season should they beat Catalans Dragons next Friday.<\/p>\n

And if it wasn\u2019t the case already, this proved for certain that Wigan are the team to beat this year, while the Rhinos still have plenty of doubters they need to silence, perhaps even more now.<\/p>\n

Leeds have been brilliant this year and their progress under Brad Arthur is clear for all to see. When all i s said and done they remain strong contenders to make the Grand Final and one defeat doesn\u2019t extinguish their hopes.<\/p>\n

But the reality is this: when the biggest games arrive, and the chips and well are truly down, Leeds keep coming up short. In this instance, badly short.<\/p>\n

There is mitigation, of course. Losing Lachie Miller after seven minutes was a cruel blow, and their attack was, understandably, not in sync the entire evening. Their one try came from a last-play kick.<\/p>\n

But the reality is that Leeds were beaten in absolutely every department. Wigan were more physical, more clinical and more composed in every single way. <\/p>\n

The Warriors know how to win these games. They\u2019ve won finals, they\u2019ve won crunch games, they\u2019ve done it over and over.<\/p>\n

This Leeds time have not yet done that and when the chance arrived to win one, they fell well short once again.<\/p>\n

Under Brad Arthur, Leeds have lost their two Challenge Cup games against Super League teams, lost their only play-off match and now lost a shootout to finish top spot.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a worrying record and you have to think there could be a new mental scar to deal with heading into the play-offs after losing this one.<\/p>\n

The Rhinos have come a long way. But this night proved they\u2019ve still got a way to go.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, they\u2019ll have to overcome a Wigan Warriors side that are in sensational form. They were outstanding here, spearheaded by the sublime Bevan French, who ripped them to shreds.<\/p>\n

But Wigan are outstanding across the board. Harry Smith is marshalling them around the field, their outside backs take every chance that comes their way and in the middle, Wigan\u2019s physicality is simply too much for everyone right now.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re an outstanding team, and only an exceptional performance from anyone in the top six will be enough to stop them securing another treble.<\/p>\n

Whether Leeds have that in their locker when it really matters remains to be seen. But we\u2019ve not seen it yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The league table shows how far Leeds Rhinos have come. This night at Headingley shows they\u2019ve still got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1189291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":["post-1189290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-leeds","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-leeds","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117223096671383571","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1189290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1189290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1189291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1189290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1189290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1189290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}