YEP rugby league writer Peter Smith reflects on an encouraging performance by Leeds Rhinos in Ash Handley's testimonial game.
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00:00Pre-season games don't mean anything, we all know that, but that said, it's better to win
00:06them than to lose and Leeds did a decent job against Wigan here at Headingley Inn. Ash
00:11Hanley's testimonial, 22 points to 4 victory, thoroughly deserved. The concern for Leeds
00:18was an injury to Micah Sivo who suffered damage to his left knee in the first half and went
00:24off in a lot of pain, so that's a concern. They also lost Cooper Jenkins to a head knock
00:30but he should be OK in a couple of weeks' time for the next game. Other than that, decent
00:37performance from Leeds, I thought they were very good in the first quarter. In the second
00:41quarter after they'd gone 12-0 up, they started to make a few handling errors, gave back-to-back
00:46penalties away a couple of times, but defended really well, conceded one try to a kick, but
00:52other than that looked pretty safe against what was at that stage a full-strength Wigan
00:57line-up. Both teams made a lot of changes in the second half, so you can't read too
01:03much into it, but Leeds dominated the final 40 minutes, added a couple more tries, some
01:10good individual performances. I thought Brodie Croft showed some really nice touches and
01:16Jake Connor, again, was excellent. I think he could be a real important signing for Leeds.
01:25I think he's somebody who, if they can get the best out of him, could be one of the top
01:30players in the competition. He had a really influential game, as he did on Boxing Day.
01:36So positive signs and some more game time for some young kids which will benefit them
01:41in the long run. Overall, good day for Leeds and for Ash Hanley. 5,000 crowd here and it's
01:46great to see him score a try on his testimonial game. Overall, encouraging enough to do.