Lowly Leeds Rhinos looking to build on rare triumph

They make the short trip to Wakefield Trinity tonight seeking consecutive victories for the first time since last October.

Leeds remain bottom of Super League with just five games remaining of the regular campaign and an enforced break next week due to their absence from the Challenge Cup.

Asked if he could now start thinking strategically having won for the first time in eight matches last week, McDermott said: “We’re in a game-by game mentality at the moment. We got the win against Salford last week but have got to quickly turn attention to this week.

“We have to gain some momentum and get more of a foothold in the door before we start thinking about things strategically.

“Optimism, belief and people buying in, have never been problems. Getting people on the training field has been a problem but we’ve had more numbers training down at the last couple of training sessions.

“We’ve been down at Kirkstall (training base), too, for the first time since it was flooded at Christmas. There’s no showers or offices but the players were able to train on a newly-grassed field so there’s been a lot of positives.”

One of those is the imminent return of England winger Ryan Hall who may be passed fit after a long-running ankle problem suffered in March.

“Ryan Hall will have a late fitness test (Friday) and may well feature,” added McDermott. “It’ll be great to have him in the fold although what he will give in game one I’m not sure. If he’s fit, he’ll benefit from playing.”