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Leeds Rhinos will be motivated by forthcoming Jamie Peacock exit, says Tony Rea

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Tony Rea discusses the weekend's Super League action on The Morning View.

Tony Rea believes the added motivation of helping Jamie Peacock sign off in style can boost Leeds in their bid to be crowned Super League champions this season.

The Rhinos secured an impressive 38-22 victory away to Catalan Dragons on Saturday having trailed by 12 points at one stage.

The win sends them above St Helens and to the top of the table heading into the Easter weekend and Rea has been impressed by Brian McDermott’s team in the early stages of the campaign.

"Danny McGuire is having a wonderful season, their young blokes are contributing, they’re playing like a team," he told Sky Sports News HQ.

"They’re not a bunch of old blokes with big CVs and big scrapbooks playing with a bunch of young guys. They’re all playing well, contributing, digging themselves out of tough patches.

"They would have had that resilience; Catalans have been leaking points for fun so Leeds would have backed themselves there. They’re a fantastic side, so they just need to keep in games and they’ll win them because of their talent."

With the confirmation that Peacock will retire at the end of the season and take up the role of football manager at Hull KR, Rea expects his Rhinos team-mates will work even harder to deliver the title in his final year with the club.

"They only get one chance to do that and their responsibility is now,” added the former London Broncos coach. “It’s why they have announced it, clearly. He’s a special player.

"Some players play a lot of games like Jamie has and they don’t have that reverence in that respect but those guys will make sure they’re doing a job for him. You would look over at him in tough times and say ‘I’m not going to let him down’."

As for Peacock’s move into management with the Robins, Rea argued that the club cannot expect the former England captain to transform them overnight and that his role must be clearly defined if he is to succeed.

"That’s an hour long conversation, what it is!" he remarked. "I like the role, you’d think someone with great experience would go in there and his experience is on the field, not necessarily management.

"However, he’s got great knowledge. What you’d hope is that they don’t just lump him in and say ‘long after the club, turn us around, fix us’ because that is too much to ask a bloke who has just retired.

"They need to be clear on the areas that they want him to contribute and also  guide him and lead him in some of the areas. But certainly his experience will be very important to a club that wants to go up a gear. They want to move up from being a middling or bottom club to be a challenging club."

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