Leeds Rhinos star Harry Newman is confident he can eradicate the petulant side of his game “pretty quickly”. The 23-year-old centre is rated as one of Super League’s brightest young talents and scored twice during last Saturday’s stunning 32-22 comeback win over Catalans Dragons.
A fierce competitor, Newman let his emotions boil over early in the second half when he was sin binned by referee Liam Moore for dissent. It might have proved costly, but Rohan Smith’s men remarkably scored twice when Newman was off the field.
Last season, Newman served a three-match ban for using aggressive language or body language towards referee Tom Grant in match against St Helens. While Newman’s ability is not up for debate, he admitted he needed to improve his on-field discipline.
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Newman told Leeds Live: “Yes, definitely. Sometimes it can let me down but, like I’ve always said, I’m a passionate player. I care about the team, the club, the fans and I just want to win. Sometimes it comes out in the wrong way and it was unfortunate on Saturday, but that’s something I can fix up pretty quickly.”
Newman says he loves playing for Leeds and was seen whipping up the Rhinos fans in the South Stand during the Catalans game.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather play than Headingley,” he added. “I spoke to the fans in the South Stand afterwards and encouraged as many of them as possible to get to Hull KR on Friday. They make a huge difference and, when the South Stand is that loud, it’s like having 14 men on the field.”
Leeds have won three of their six opening games and have turned over two title contenders in St Helens and Catalans. Newman declared: “We know we can challenge anyone on our day.
“It’s just about building that consistency, which we did in the second half of last season. This year we’ve had a few hit and misses, but we’ll keep working hard and improving. I think the Catalans game was probably our best performance of the year so far. Defensively we nilled them in the second half and that’s a massive positive to take into this week at Hull KR.
“Even in the first half against Catalans, we were playing well and, e even though things didn’t go our way, we stuck together. That second half was the best 40 minutes of rugby we have played this season – it was expansive and exciting to watch. That’s what we’re about and that’s what this group is capable of. We stick together no matter what and we pulled off some massive comeback wins last year. Catalans was another one.”
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