Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur buoyed by Jake Connor progress as he hails Ryan Hall professionalism

The 30-year-old arrived from Huddersfield Giants in a surprise off-season switch, with an unconvincing second spell at the John Smith's Stadium increasing the need for a fast start to life as a Leeds player.

Connor will have an opportunity to put down a marker when the Rhinos host Wakefield Trinity in their first pre-season friendly on Boxing Day.

"He is going to spend a bit of time in the centres and a bit of time in the halves," said Arthur, who will look elsewhere for Lachie Miller's replacement at full-back.

"He's got better each week with his training, conditioning and getting his body right.

"He said to me the other day that he feels the fittest and the best he's been for a while. The good thing about it is that he was probably a fair way off the pack when we first started but he's bridged that gap closer and closer.

"He's training well. He does a lot of good things with the ball, too, a lot of good things."

Connor will be joined in Leeds' festive line-up by fellow new signings Ryan Hall, Maika Sivo, Keenan Palasia and Cooper Jenkins.

Hall is already demonstrating his value on his return to Headingley as the Rhinos maintain the standards set since Arthur's arrival in the summer.

"It's easy for them to get comfortable and drop off but they haven't," said Arthur.

"I haven't had to drive that; the players are leading that, in particular (co-captains) Ash (Handley) and Cameron (Smith). We've got a lot of senior players in the team without having a leadership group.

"Crofty (Brodie Croft) is a good talker, Frawls (Matt Frawley) is good at driving standards. There's Mikolaj (Oledzki), too.

"Ryan Hall has come in and shown the boys his level of professionalism and why he's able to play at 37. He's training like a 20-year-old. He's going really well."

After consecutive eighth-place finishes, there is fresh optimism at Headingley ahead of Arthur's first full season in charge.

However, the experienced Australian will not be fooled into thinking Leeds have cracked it based on a positive first half of pre-season.

"I've seen all the right things at training but as I've reminded them, it doesn't matter what we do on the training field; they're only going to get judged on what they do when they play," said Arthur.

"We can have some really good weeks and if we play poorly, we're only going to get judged on that. That's the nature of how it is.

"Sometimes you can have a bad week of training but if you get the job done on the field, that's all that really matters.

"But all the signs are positive and we're doing the right things. Our attitude is good – but we haven't been put under any pressure yet or played a game. When we get put under pressure, we'll know a bit more about how we're travelling."