BLOODIED BUT NOT BEATEN
Rhino Adam vows to bounce back and wipe that smile off Daryl’s face
ADAM CUTHBERTSON and Leeds trudged off from a 66-10 hammering at Castleford in March looking anything but potential Grand Finalists.
Daryl Powell (above left) saw his Tigers score 12 breathtaking tries to completely brush aside a Rhinos team still rebuilding from their nightmare 2016.
But there was no talk about Leeds’ Old Trafford prospects being over already in the visiting changing room after the defeat.
A few days later coach Brian McDermott stunned the rest of Super League by saying he thought his side could still win the Grand Final.
Now, seven months on, Cuthbertson (main picture above) and his team-mates stand one win away from the title. He said: “There was absolutely no self-doubt after that Cas game.
“We just knew we got it really wrong on the night, and that can happen to anyone. We’ve seen it happen Down Under in the NRL, but nobody really talks about it the way we got spoken about.
“Sometimes you get it wrong – it’s about how you bounce back.
“I really believe that now after playing in that game and being where we are now. It’s about being honest with yourselves and working hard, and we’ve done that.” Leeds were already a team familiar with brutal honesty after their forgettable 2016.
This time last year the Rhinos had just faced part-timers Featherstone and Batley in a Qualifiers campaign to preserve their top-flight status.
They made just one change in personnel for this season with Aussie hooker Matt Parcell arriving – and that same squad could now lift an eighth Super League title in just 14 years.
“We could have sat around and said we’d been unlucky and blamed everything under the sun,” said Cuthbertson.
“It wasn’t about that – it was about being honest with each other and what we could have done better as a team and as individuals.
“We had to come back in pre-season and really work on that, and this year the squad has made a Grand Final.
“We weren’t out to prove anyone wrong because we knew we were good enough – we just had to get our game in order. “What 2016 brought out of us was that we grew a lot of leaders in the squad, and got experience into some young kids who were replacing Jamie Peacock, Kev Sinfield and Kylie Leuluai.
‘That’s what’s helped us at the back end of this year.”