Brad Arthur has held his first press conference as Leeds Rhinos coach.
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00:00Welcome to Leeds, welcome to Haddingley. What have you made of your new surroundings so far?
00:04Beautiful country. I haven't been one in the past in Australia to too much culture, but I feel like living over here I'm going to have to broaden my horizons a bit around that.
00:18First impressions of the club and the team?
00:22Everyone's bent over backwards to make sure that my stay is as comfortable as possible. The transition has been very smooth.
00:29Led by Ian and Matt Cook, our manager, had a nice dinner with Gary and his wife on Sunday.
00:40The players have been very accommodating and you can see that they're happy to make some adjustments to the way they train, to what they do.
00:54But I feel like they're excited for a new opportunity, a new start.
00:58What about the stadium?
01:00It's great, isn't it? It's world class. I had a tour the other day and I don't know if there's any stadiums where you've got the rugby league on one side and the cricket on the other.
01:13We've been part of some pretty big stadiums in Australia and the last stadium that I've coached at was magnificent.
01:21I think the difference with this stadium is that because it's for the Leeds Rhinos, when you walk through the tunnel and the history of the actual club itself,
01:33and then you go further through the tunnel and the history of the game, it's pretty impressive.
01:40Do the colours make it easier for you to settle in?
01:42Yeah, I need to say, but it's not blue and gold, is it?
01:45Nearly.
01:46What is it?
01:47Amber.
01:48Amber, blue and amber.
01:50Don't get that wrong, bro.
01:52No, no, well that's why I'm being careful.
01:55What about the group then? You mentioned the group, obviously it's a group that's been through quite a lot to this point.
02:00What is the mood that you've detected among the group as you've met them for the first time?
02:04I think they're excited. We've changed and new faces always come with a bit of excitement.
02:12There's also at times a little bit of uncertainty or unsure on what to expect, but what I've seen is a real willingness to want to find ways to get better.
02:26You can tell that they care about the club, they care about their team-mates, they care about their performances,
02:33and so they're willing to take on board whatever I feel is needed moving forward.
02:40So there's been a real willingness with that, which is great.
02:44The pleasing part of the game, the performance the other night for me, the last couple that I've watched closely,
02:50is that while they haven't played the best football or managed the game really well, the effort and the want and the desire has been there.
03:00Like in the London Broncos game, they probably tried very hard to beat themselves,
03:05but under pressure with six, seven minutes to go they managed to claw their way back into it and then hold on and go a point.
03:12And the pressure in that game must have been enormous considering the expectations.
03:17Even the other night, coming out at half-time, I wasn't sure really what we were going to get because I didn't know the group well enough.
03:25They seemed pretty quiet at half-time, but then we come out and started well, won the second half,
03:30so that shows you that because they've seen those results just snowball out of control and go,
03:35this is all too hard, so that's pleasing.
03:38Have you had a training session yet?
03:40Yes, we trained yesterday. Really enjoyed it. It was good on a personal level for me as well to get back in after six weeks out.
03:49It's something I've been doing for a long time and you just get into that routine and habit and you miss it.
03:54The thrill of coaching and trying to help people and help the staff.
03:59But again, the playing group and the club has made the transition so easy for me
04:06and it's made me confident with the delivery of what we did yesterday because the players allowed it to be.
04:12You can try and make change or improve things, but unless people want to buy into it, unless they want to own it,
04:20it doesn't mean anything. I can already see that we've got a bit of work to do and it's only day one.
04:27They've still got to keep buying in in three or four weeks' time, but all the signs have been positive.
04:32Just from a coaching point of view, what is your philosophy on how the game should be played?
04:40The game is very effort-based. You can't win without effort, but you can't also just rely on effort to win your game.
04:54We're going to be a team that prides itself on effort and playing for the jersey and playing for each other.
05:01The game has to be played at a physical standard. You can't dip your toes in.
05:06You can't try and play the game or have a soft approach to the game, so we need to be strong physically
05:12and be prepared to put your bodies on the line and go after the collision and enjoy it.
05:19Then there's the level of the football part of it, the execution of your skill that you've got to get right,
05:24but also managing the game and not just going out there and saying,
05:28we're just going to play footy. You need to have some sort of plan or something that you're trying to achieve in the game.
05:34You need to be chasing the result, which is two points, but you need to accumulate a lot of small wins along the way.
05:42Those small victories will equate to scoreboard pressure, and that's how you get the two points.
05:50The team has a real willingness to play football, and I think that's one of their strengths.
05:56Now my job is to just try and harness that a little bit and make sure they know how to build the pressure,
06:02play the bit of footy that they like to play when the time's right.
06:06We've got to start games better. We've got to build games.
06:09We've got to lay a bit of a platform before we just think we can go into playing touch footy.
06:13Brad, when your appointment was announced, the club said it was until the end of this season.
06:17When we spoke to Ian Bleese, the sporting director, he intimated that it could be beyond this season.
06:22Yes, it could be. I've been honest about it all the way through.
06:27I want to be a career coach in the NRL, and I feel like I've still got a bit of time and some unfinished business there.
06:35But I've also always had the desire at some stage to coach in the Super League,
06:42whether that be at the end of my NRL career, or as it turned out, it's now, and it's a great place.
06:48I don't want to be drawn into that.