Leeds Rhinos are not banking on a Hull FC cup hangover

The demands of Sky television will send Hull to Headingley only five days after they completed back-to-back Wembley triumphs with a hard-fought 18-14 victory over Wigan Warriors.

Leeds lost all their four competitive fixtures following Cup glory in 2014 and suffered three successive defeats after retaining the trophy 12 months later.

Last year Hull led the Super-8s on Challenge Cup final weekend, but were beaten in three of their four subsequent matches, slipped to third in the table and failed to reach Old Trafford.

Celebrations clearly take their toll and facing the Cup holders in their first match after Wembley can be a major advantage for opponents who are well rested after two weeks without a game, but Leeds centre Jimmy Keinhorst does not expect Hull to fall away in the league the way they did last year.

“It is a short turnaround for them as well, but we can’t read too much into that,” Keinhorst warned ahead of a fixture which could confirm Leeds’s place in the end of season play-offs.

“I’m sure they will want to get back on the horse in the league and I don’t think we can take anything for granted.

“We have got to be on our game for sure because they will provide as tough a test as usual.”

Leeds have held the upper hand against Hull in recent seasons, but were outplayed 43-24 in last month’s Cup semi-final.

Since then their form has been erratic, with wins over Wigan and St Helens being separated by a heavy loss at Wakefield Trinity.

Victory tomorrow would guarantee a top-four finish for Rhinos and leave them just one more win away from second place and home advantage in the semi-finals.

Keinhorst is convinced they are capable of going all the way to Old Trafford and regaining the Super League trophy they last lifted in 2015, but admits they need to be more consistent.

“It would be good if we can do it after last year’s disappointing season,” said Keinhorst, of the prospect of securing a semi-final tie.

“To turn that around and finish in the top-four would be great, but we know where we want to be come the end of the season and we will be focusing on that.

“I think we can win it [the Grand Final]. We are second in the league, but performances have perhaps been a bit hit and miss this year.

“When we have played well, we have played well, but we have maybe struggled finding that consistency in our performances.

“Going into the last few games we have to put a run of performances together, but we believe in each other and we are confident and hopefully we can build some consistency and put that together in the next few games.”

Several of Rhinos’ best performances this season have come following defeats and Keinhorst admitted that is a double-edged sword.

“What we have done well is bouncing back from poor performances or losses,” he reflected.

“We haven’t had back-to-back defeats in the league so we have been good in that regard, but we don’t want to have those losses in the first place.

“That’s where we need to find that consistency. The semi-final and final are two big games and we need to perform at our best to stand any chance.

“There’s a bit of a gap between us and Hull and if we get our performance right [tomorrow] we can widen that gap and hopefully push towards cementing second place.

“That would be great heading into the play-offs and if we finish second it gives us a home semi-final, which is important. We want to keep up a bit of momentum building into that.”

Keinhorst has been an unused substitute for each of Leeds’s past two games, but has been included in coach Brian McDermott’s initial 19-man squad to face Hull. He said: “You want to get out and play – whether you are starting or on the bench – and not doing it is a bit frustrating and difficult at times, but you have to crack on with the next job and I’ll be looking to do that.”

Full-back Ashton Golding, who was dropped for the win over St Helens two weeks ago, is back in contention for Leeds and prop Mitch Garbutt could feature after sitting out the last three games. Brett Ferres (knee) and Keith Galloway (Achilles) remain on the casualty list.

Fourteen of Hull’s Wembley team have been named in coach Lee Radford’s initial squad, but entre Josh Griffin, prop Liam Watts and second-row Mark Minichiello will be rested. Last week’s unused squad members Steve Michaels and Jordan Thompson are expected to step up, with Jansin Turgut, Jack Downs and Brad Fash also in contention.