Brad Arthur confident Leeds Rhinos recognise stakes ahead of crucial Wakefield Trinity showdown
Brad Arthur has not had to spell out the importance of Thursday's four-pointer as Leeds Rhinos look to deliver a hammer blow to Wakefield Trinity's play-off hopes.
The Rhinos travel to Belle Vue knowing victory would take them eight points clear of their seventh-placed rivals with only seven rounds of the Super League season remaining.
A home win, however, would cut the gap to four points and leave Leeds looking over their shoulder in the top-six race.
"The guys are pretty well educated on where we sit and what we need to do," said Arthur when asked if he needed to drive home the importance of the fixture.
"They know these games are worth four points. Sometimes when you overfocus on it, it takes away your focus from how you want to play and go about getting the win and those points.
"When you focus on that, it becomes the sole focus and you forget about what you're good at and what you need to do.
"I'm sure the players are aware that we could put an eight-point buffer on the rest of the competition."
Leeds head into the West Yorkshire derby just two points adrift of second-placed Wigan Warriors, leaving it all to play for in the final two months of the campaign.
With games still to come against Leigh Leopards, Hull KR, Hull FC and Wigan, Arthur is placing added importance on the two competition points on offer each week.
"All these games towards the back end of the year are pretty crucial," he added.
"It's important that you play well and your performances are really strong. We've focused a lot on making sure we build performances that resemble how we train and what we want to look like – being reliable.
"But now over the next month, the result is pretty important. Sometimes it's not how you go about it and how you get it.
"Those last couple of weeks, you've just got to make sure you're right on top of the result and your performance.
"Results are pretty key for a lot of teams that are still in the hunt."
The clash at Belle Vue is one of just three Super League fixtures this weekend following the decision to split round 20 over two weeks.
Arthur has urged the Rhinos to empty their tanks before recharging for a testing run-in.
"We've got to frontload and really go after it," he said ahead of his first visit to Wakefield as a head coach.
"It's a long time to sit around and wait for your next game to have any regrets. We need to make sure we leave everything on the field.
"They're in the same situation. They're going to have the support right behind them and it's up to us to do something about that.
"I'm starting to see how important these derbies are. The excitement adds to the contest for the players."