Leeds Rhinos v Wigan Warriors: Super League preview
Last Updated: 15/07/16 11:07pm
Liam Sutcliffe says Leeds was a tough place to be during the Rhinos' dark days but confidence is now at a season high.
Brian McDermott's side have gained some momentum towards the end of the season as they attempt to topple Super League's second-place side the Warriors.
Wigan coach Shaun Wane concedes Leeds are the form team and Sutcliffe reveals there is a new mindset among the defending champions, who have won three of their last four matches after making a poor start to their campaign.
"It's good coming in on a Monday knowing you've had a win at the weekend," said Sutcliffe. "At the start of the year, everyone was obviously down and low on confidence after loss after loss.
"It wasn't the nicest place to be but there's no point looking back, we've got to plan for the middle eights and everyone is full of confidence.
"We've had a couple of wins and a couple of decent performances. I think the stuff we've been doing over the last few weeks has been building and building and we do feel we're improving week by week. It showed in the victory over Hull.
"It does help having players back and I think we're playing a different way to how we were playing at the start of the year and it's obviously working."
Tom Briscoe is the latest of their long-term injured players to return to action while the Rhinos also appear to have discovered the answer to the hooking problems following the arrival of James Segeyaro.
Sutcliffe, who was seen as the natural successor to playmaker Kevin Sinfield at the start of the season, has made a promising switch to the full-back role vacated by Zak Hardaker.
"I'm enjoying it," Sutcliffe said of his new position. "The more I play there, the more confident I feel.
"It's similar to half-back attacking wise but there are other aspects you have to learn. I got a fair few tips from Zak before he went and Ashton (Golding) has been helping as well. Even though he's younger than me, he's had more experience in that role.
"If that's where I play for the rest of the year, hopefully I can keep on improving."
Leeds visitors Wigan are also in a rich run of form after winning their last eight league and cup matches, but Wane is acutely aware of the threat posed by last year's treble winners.
"I've still not forgotten what they did last year, that was unbelievable," Wane said. "I've said all year they'd be back and it's just our luck that we play them now.
"Not many teams beat Hull in Hull and they were good for the win.
"They're playing better than us at the minute. We need to put a dent in them. We're not playing that well and we're down on numbers but we'll try and put 17 players out there that will test them."
Wigan are without skipper Sean O'Loughlin through suspension while Wane is likely to give a debut to new signing Frank Paul Nuuausala off the bench following his arrival this week.
Leeds Rhinos: Carl Ablett, Mitch Achurch, Tom Briscoe, Rob Burrow, Adam Cuthbertson, Brett Delaney, Keith Galloway, Mitch Garbutt, Ashton Golding, Ryan Hall, Ash Handley, Jimmy Keinhorst, Jamie Jones-Buchanan, Jordan Lilley, Joel Moon, James Segeyaro, Brad Singleton, Liam Sutcliffe, Kallum Watkins.
Wigan Warriors: Joe Bretherton, Josh Charnley, Ben Flower, Oliver Gildart, Jack Higginson, Willie Isa, Dom Manfredi, Lee Mossop, Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Sam Powell, Dan Sarginson, Jake Shorrocks, Matty Smith, Kyle Shelford, Ryan Sutton, Taulima Tautai, Lewis Tierney, Sam Tomkins and George Williams.
Watch Leeds v Wigan live on Sky Sports 3 HD on Friday from 7.45pm. Catch the match for £6.99 on NOW TV. No contract.