Time off will help Leeds Rhinos adapt to the ‘new game’ – Luke Gale

By Luke Gale
Published 21st Aug 2020, 06:01 BST
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WE HAVE no game this weekend and, though it might seem strange to say this after just getting back from five months off, I think the break has come at the right time for us.
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We’ll get some troops back for our next game and it’s a chance to regroup.

After the Huddersfield game we knew we weren’t great, but we got the win.

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Covering for quality players, including Robert Lui, is a far-from-ideal scenario says Luke Gale. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.Covering for quality players, including Robert Lui, is a far-from-ideal scenario says Luke Gale. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.
Covering for quality players, including Robert Lui, is a far-from-ideal scenario says Luke Gale. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.

Then we’ve not been happy with the last two performances, being blown away by St Helens and losing to Wigan.

Last weekend we were in contention, but I don’t think we were great and we haven’t been great throughout the first few games.

We have changed things up a bit at training and a weekend without playing will give us an opportunity to right some wrongs and get some hard work into us.

Hopefully we’ll come back against Salford a week tomorrow in much better shape.

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New kid on the block Callum McLelland in action against Wigan last time out. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.New kid on the block Callum McLelland in action against Wigan last time out. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.
New kid on the block Callum McLelland in action against Wigan last time out. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.

I was really disappointed with my sin-binning against Wigan. I have watched it back and I feel it was harsh.

I have seen probably five or six of those since the games restarted and not one of them has been a sin-binning so I can’t really understand why it was given.

If you are going to do that on every tip tackle, fair enough, that’s fine, but he made a meal of it.

We were in the game at 16-10, which is why I am so upset, but the fact is we made too many errors and we aren’t firing on all cylinders at the minute.

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Ash Handley, an international-class winger covering at full-back. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.Ash Handley, an international-class winger covering at full-back. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.
Ash Handley, an international-class winger covering at full-back. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.

Hard work and what we do in training is going to be important before the Salford game. We have altered a few things to try and replicate the game intensity.

The game has changed quite a lot since we were playing earlier in the year.

The ball is in play a lot longer and that has probably had a bigger effect than we were expecting.

We weren’t quite ready for that and I still don’t think we are, so that’s something we are working on. We’ve had some tough sessions this week and the signs are positive.