1998

After two difficult seasons to begin the new summer era, Leeds Rhinos emerged as a major force in the game in the 1998 season as new Head Coach Graham Murray transformed the club from perennial underachievers to title contenders.

Murray arrived from the disbanded Hunter Mariners side following the merger of the ARL and Super League competitions to create the new NRL competition in Australia. Damian McGrath, who had been assistant to Dean Bell the previous year, retained his position under Murray and the pair formed a formidable team.

However, Murray?s reign got off the worst possible start as Leeds were eliminated from the Challenge Cup on the opening day of the season when a last second try from Castleford?s Andrew Schick snatched victory for Stuart Raper?s side.

Whilst that loss was a devastating blow at the time, it actually laid the foundation for Murray?s revolution. The Australian had eight weeks to prepare his side for the start of the new Super League season as Leeds welcomed Warrington at the start of April. Murray had a similar squad to Dean Bell the previous season but he made four key additions to the team. He brought centre Brad Godden with him from the Mariners whilst back row Marc Glanville made a similar journey from reigning ARL Champions Newcastle Knights. The other two players were already at Leeds but little was expected of them at the start of the season. Great Britain international Daryl Powell had arrived from Keighley Cougars the previous summer but had not featured due to injury whilst Darren Fleary was seen as little more than a make weight by supporters in the same deal. However both would go on to be cornerstones of Murray?s new era.

Having dispatched Warrington thanks to two tries from Ryan Sheridan, Leeds sent out a message to the rest of Super League with an incredible victory at Odsal over the Bulls. Two moments highlighted the changing of the guard, the first was Darren Fleary smashing Graham Bradley to show that Leeds were no longer a soft touch and the inspirational form of Iestyn Harris as he and Graham Holroyd combined to beat Shaun Edwards for Harris to score the crucial try.

Leeds avenged their Cup loss to Castleford with a 20-10 win at Headingley before a comfortable win over Salford. The Rhinos then had three games when they showed their title credentials with a trio of remarkable wins. The first came in London when Australian prop Mark Carroll was left to rue his words after he called his new opponents Northern softies, Adrian Morley exacting his own form of justice. Leeds won 14-13 in a fixture they had struggled with in the previous two years. The following week an unforgettable night at Headingley saw Leeds finally beat Wigan 16-8 thanks to tries from Godden and Andy Hay. The following week, Iestyn Harris kicked Leeds to victory in an almost unbelievable comeback that preserved their perfect record. When Morley was sent off for a high tackle in the 54th minute, Leeds went 19 points behind and their marvellous start to the season was surely over. But three tries, all converted by Harris, two of them from the touchline, and a 50-yard penalty, saw them get away with it in the most dramatic manner possible.

Wins over St Helens and Hull followed in consecutive weeks and stretched the Rhinos unbeaten start to the season out to nine games before a trip to newly promoted Hull Sharks at the Boulevard. Despite tries from Barrie McDermott and Paul Sterling, Leeds lost out 22-10. That defeat led to a flutter in the Rhinos steady progress as they lost three of their six games in mid-season including defeats to Bradford and Castleford in derby clashes.

However, as the season built to the inaugural Grand Final play off series, Leeds found their feet again. Wins over Salford and London were just the warm up to an unforgettable night at Central Park as Brad Godden inspired the Rhinos to a 15-8 win. The match was memorable for the horrendous elbow to the face of Morley by Mick Cassidy that landed the Wigan forward a six game ban after the incident was put on report.

Leeds won back to back games at home over Sheffield and St Helens before the biggest win of the season at Huddersfield at 72-16 which was notable for including a first ever try for the club by Kevin Sinfield.

With Wigan having secured top spot, Murray was already looking to the play offs and a comfortable home win over Hull was followed by a 42-0 defeat at Halifax which remains the last time that the Rhinos were nilled.

The two sides met a week later in the first ever weekend of Super League play offs and Leeds avenged that defeat with a narrow 13-6 win thanks to a try from Marcus St Hilaire in the second half.

That meant Leeds went back to Central Park but they could not make it a repeat of their effort earlier in the season as a Francis Cummins try was cancelled out by a long range effort from Lee Gilmour and further tries from Henry Paul and Mark Bell.

That meant a sudden death clash with St Helens at Headingley however, despite early nerves, Leeds booked their place at Old Trafford thanks to a hat trick from Cummins and two scores from St Hilaire.

The final itself was a nip and tuck affair in the Manchester rain. Leeds struck early on through Richie Blackmore however Jason Robinson?s score just before half time edged his side in front thanks to Andy Farrell?s conversion. He added two more penalties to secure a 10-4 win in front of a crowd of 43,533 at Old Trafford. Whilst it was a disappointing end to the season, the building blocks had been put in place for future success and this final defeat felt more like a road bump on the route to glory rather than the usual dead end for Leeds.