'Proud of him': Jake Connor inspires Leeds Rhinos to rewrite familiar St Helens script
For a while, it felt as though everyone inside Headingley had seen this story before.
Leeds Rhinos huff and puff, St Helens weather the storm and eventually leave with the spoils.
The Rhinos dominated the first half of Thursday's Super League clash yet went into the interval trailing 16-8.
For all their possession and territory, they had only Chris Hankinson's try and two Jake Connor goals to show for their efforts. Saints, meanwhile, scored three times from limited opportunities.
The sense of deja vu was impossible to ignore.
But Leeds shut out the familiar doubts to find a way, marshalled superbly by reigning Man of Steel Connor.
Where the enigmatic half-back had looked distracted in the opening 40 minutes, he was composed after the break to guide his team to a first home victory over St Helens since August 2017.
The turnaround began at half-time during a straight-talking conversation with Brad Arthur.
"The good thing about Jake is that you can just be honest and frank with him," said the Leeds boss. "That's how he likes it.
"We just talked about it then and he knew straight away that things weren't working out. Sometimes it's hard for a half because if the rest of the team isn't getting their role right and he gets frustrated, he wants to talk to the ref and talk to the opposition.
"In the second half, he didn't do that. He just focused on controlling the team and really his composure won us the game. That's the great thing about Jake.
"I'm proud of him. His family should be proud of him and his team-mates should be proud of him. He's a good person and an extremely good father.
"His composure showed in the second half. If he wasn't out there, we don't win that game."
This was no ordinary losing run facing Leeds before kick-off.
The Rhinos had lost 21 of the previous 23 meetings, none more painful than last year's play-off defeat when victory slipped from their grasp in dramatic fashion.
Those memories came flooding back as Saints took a firm grip on this top-of-the-table clash.
Alex Walmsley, Kyle Feldt and Tristan Sailor all crossed in a first half that might otherwise have been remembered for the away side's errors and ill-discipline.
Leeds, however, toiled with the ball and could only reply through Hankinson's try.
The script appeared to have been written but Connor and co tore it up.
The playmaker shifted the momentum with a booming kick that forced Feldt to knock the ball dead and the Rhinos scored through Harry Newman in the next set.
Two Connor penalties nudged Leeds in front before Super League's top scorer Maika Sivo calmed any late nerves with his customary try.
This was a win nine years in the making – and the significance of the result was not lost on Arthur.
"I don't think we were great," added the Australian, whose side head into the second half of the season in top spot. "We were good but not great.
"I think we learned some lessons and it was a step in the right direction for us.
"We didn't quite nail some big moments in the first half and a bit of frustration crept in, particularly with Jake , but in the second half we went out there and Jake iced some big moments for us.
"With people talking about how long it is since we beat them here, the monkey's off the back. The manner in which we went about the victory was pleasing."