Handley leads resurgent Leeds to win over Warrington to boost playoff push

You only have to go as far back as six weeks or so and the prospect of Leeds Rhinos even participating in the Super League playoffs was laughable. Now, they are starting to look like the team nobody would want to play when it matters most.

To call this turnaround under Rohan Smith remarkable would be doing it a disservice. This, their fifth win in succession and seventh in the last eight, was far from the most polished of that run, with them holding off a late Warrington comeback here. But at this time of the year, this game is all about one thing: winning. It’s something Leeds weren’t capable of doing in the early part of the season but now, they are Super League’s form team just as the business end of the year looms on the horizon.

Not only are the Rhinos into the top six, but they are now fifth as a result of this latest victory. Whisper it quietly but with three games still to play, they are now only three points adrift of fourth-placed Catalans too, who they play in the penultimate round of the regular season.

The damage was done here in the first half, when Leeds exposed the frailties we have come to see on a regular basis from a Warrington side whose own playoff hopes are now over.

They can have few complaints. Another year of big-spending has ultimately resulted in no silverware, and they must watch on while the top six contest the race for the Grand Final. On the evidence of what we have seen in the last two months, there is every argument to suggest it could be the Rhinos at Old Trafford once again. They led 24-6 at half-time courtesy of four tries that underline the brand of rugby Smith has brought to Leeds: expressive and entertaining.

Rhyse Martin and Richie Myler combined to send Leeds’ captain, Ash