Competition for places at Leeds Rhinos has driven Jake Connor to fight for his position in the team like never before.
The 30-year-old joined Leeds on a two-year deal in the off-season following a mostly forgettable two seasons back at Huddersfield Giants, but faced a battle for a spot in the side with incumbent Lachie Miller.
An injury to Miller, who was handed the No 1 shirt for 2025 while Connor was given No 18, opened the door for the former England international though and he seized that chance, culminating in a player of the match display in Sunday’s Betfred Super League win over Castleford Tigers.
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“I’ve never been in this position before and it was a new challenge for me going into pre-season,” Connor told Sky Sports.
“It probably gave me that fire in the belly to fight for the position and that’s just what I’ve done.
“I kept my head down pre-season, worked hard and I just want to put some good performances together.”
Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur has continually challenged Connor since he made the switch to AMT Headingley and is impressed with the progress he has made so far.
But the closing stages of the 38-24 win over West Yorkshire rivals Castleford, where hosts Leeds let in three tries in the final 10 minutes, underlined for the former Parramatta Eels boss that there is still plenty to work on.
“He’s doing a lot of good things, but he’s got to learn – and I’ve had these conversations with him – that when we’re going well the pretty stuff doesn’t interest me,” Arthur told Sky Sports.
“I don’t want pretty players, I want tough players and he’s slowly learning.
“He’s got a lot of class about him and he’s getting better, but we tried to be too pretty and fluffy at the end of the game.”
Connor has long been one of Super League’s most enigmatic players, capable of brilliant displays and some inventive, off-the-cuff plays to catch opponents off-guard yet at the same time struggling for any sort of consistency.
That is something Connor acknowledges and knows he needs to work on even at this point in his career, particularly with Miller potentially fit again for Saturday’s trip to Catalans Dragons.
The words of the straight-talking Arthur have helped keep him on track so far, though.
“He was very straight down the line,” Connor said.
“My fitness wasn’t where it needed to be and I was injured when I came to the club, so I’ve worked hard to get on top of that and I still need to keep working hard.
“Consistency is probably the main thing because I can drift in and out of games, but if I keep that consistency then I can only do good stuff.”
