Rhinos are looking in great shape ahead of Cup trip to local rivals

Things are going almost too well for Leeds Rhinos at the moment.

- by Peter Smith

FUTURE STAR: Teenager George Brown deserved - and took - his chance at stand-off for Leeds Rhinos against Castleford Tigers.

(PICTURE: SWPIX.COM)

The team is largely healthy and in good form, Maika Sivo has been scoring tries for fun and everything in the garden appears rosy ahead of tomorrow's Betfred Challenge Cup tie at Wakefield Trinity. Here's five talking points.

1: Sometimes the result is more important than the way it's achieved and that was the case for Rhinos against Castleford Tigers. Eight days after the big win against Hull KR in Las Vegas, with the return travel to factor in, it was always going to be a tough assignment, but Leeds got the job done in a professional, though not spectacular, manner.

One of Leeds' coach Brad Arthur's traits is he won't accept excuses and that attitude is rubbing off on his players. It is the sort of game they might have lost in recent years, so a 22-4 win was highly satisfactory.

Rhinos have a short turnaround into Friday's Cup derby and will need to knuckle down again against a team who should be fresher, but Leeds have more fit bodies than places in the team at the moment and, given how other clubs are suffering, that's a good situation to be in. They need to make the most of it while it lasts.