HARRY Newman warned Leeds Rhinos must heed Brad Arthur’s sprays despite a 48-30 win at home to Leigh Leopards on Friday night.
The Rhinos moved back above their vanquished opponents in the third-versus-fourth clash at AMT Headingley, which saw the hosts run in eight tries, all of which were converted by Jake Connor, but the visitors grabbed six.
It came a week after head coach Arthur had blasted his team’s attitude in the 18-4 defeat away to St Helens and Leeds centre Newman, who scored two tries against the Leopards, admitted they still needed to up their game ahead of the trip to Super League leaders Hull KR a week on Sunday.
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“Attitude is a bit of a complex word,” Newman told BBC Five Live. “He wasn’t challenging our effort, he was challenging our attitude towards the basic things and I thought we started the game pretty well.
“The tries we conceded in the second half, we’ll be pretty disappointed with that and that’ll be the thing we need to work on.
“That’s something we need to fix up going into Hull KR next week.
“A win is a win, but I think we’ll be pretty disappointed with that in the end.”
One player who Arthur will undoubtedly look to help with that is Kallum Watkins, who took the player of the match award after grabbing two tries and making 135 metres with an average gain of eight metres per carry on the back of one clean break and four tackle busts, per Stats Perform’s data.
He also made 23 tackles, underlining how the 34-year-old has shone in his late-career move to the second row, and Newman is delighted to have Watkins back at Leeds for a second spell after he rejoined the Rhinos from Salford Red Devils in April.
“I’m pretty close with Kal,” Newman, who made his Leeds debut in 2017, said.
“When he was first here, that’s when I was coming through and he was a great leader then and someone I really looked up to playing in the same position.
“I think since he’s come back, we’ve lost one game when he’s started which is credit to him. He’s an outstanding player, 34 years old, and another leader.
“We’ve got a good group and a young team here, and him and [Ryan Hall] coming back has made a massive difference.”