Leeds Knights coach Ryan Aldridge on why rest and recovery trumps winning streak

In a season which has seen his players toil through 56 games already, last weekend’s three-in-three schedule had, by the end of it, taken its toll on both the bodies and, perhaps, minds of his players.

In all, six points were collected from wins on the road at Romford Raiders and Milton Keynes Lightning before, to seal the deal, a 4-2 triumph at home to Solway Sharks ensured the regular season crown would remain in West Yorkshire.

The effort required to get over the line with two games to spare has meant a lighter training schedule for the Knights’ players this week, ahead of today’s home game against Peterborough Phantoms and tomorrow’s regular season closer at Hull Seahawks.

Aldridge said while winning momentum would be preferred going into next weekend’s play-offs, rest and recovery for his players was the top priority.

“Some guys will be seeing their ice time limited a little bit,” said Aldridge. “We’ll still try to get the job done on both nights but, right now, rest is more important than momentum.

“We want to go into these play-offs to win them again, but the three-in-three last weekend came at a really tough point in the year - we had to win them, everyone had to give their best.

“Friday was a tough game in Romford, Saturday was a really tough game in Milton Keynes and Sunday wasn’t an easy one.

“So a lot of bodies played a lot of ice time and took a lot of knocks, blocked a lot of shots and all those little things, so bodies are sore.

“So this weekend and this week is all about getting guys mentally and physically ready to go on and do bigger and better things from next week onwards.”