Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Wolfpack can’t feast on history
Rhinos boss Mcdermott says bitter memories of two years ago can inspire his squad to end rough patch
LEEDS
Mcdermott (right) has been shorn of a host of key players, with skipper Kallum
Watkins the latest victim with a seasonending knee injury.
The Rhinos have won just one of their last five Super League matches – a narrow victory at bottom-of-the-table Hull KR – and are falling off the top-four pace.
But Mcdermott said: “A lot of this squad went through 2016 together.
“Right here and now I know everybody’s feeling a bit flat and I know everybody’s feeling we’ve lost momentum in the season. But I’m not so pessimistic about it. I’ve already see this group this year go away to St Helens and beat them, beat Warrington at Warrington, and Hull at home convincingly, even though during those games there was patches when we were off.
“That is still in us. Throw in six props that I’m missing at the moment and I know we’ll come good.
“We just hope that the purple patch that we will have doesn’t come too late, but some of that’s taken out of our hands in terms of the squad and experience of the squad.
“A lot of the young kids, like an Ash Golding who’ll play this week, went through 2016 with us and hurt all the way through that year.
“If you isolate him as test case, some of his performances weren’t great during 2016 and the pressure of it got to him and others.
“Now he’s a couple of years older, a couple of years down the line, and he’s been through this kind of thing before.
“He’s as excited as anything about going to Catalans, into their backyard, and doing a job. That’s what we focus on.”
Mcdermott is also confident that the club’s supporters will again stick by the side through this difficult spell, with a tricky Challenge Cup quarterfinal against
Championship
Leigh coming up next week. He added: “Our fanbase is more experienced than any in Super League in terms of going through the highs and absolute lows.
“They know what’s going on. You will always have a group that’s unhappy every time we concede a try.
“But in my time here there’s been some really tough moments and the vast majority of the fanbase, they get it.
“And let’s not forget, we’re not way off – we’re not tail-spinning into anything and these are not the dark times of 2016. “We’re just going through a bit of a sticky patch and we haven’t quite nailed too much this year. “With a few personnel back and some momentum, if the juggernaut starts rolling we’ll scare everybody.”