Brian McDermott hails Leeds Rhinos’ Grand Final win as ‘best ever’

Leeds head coach Brian McDermott hailed their Grand Final victory over Castleford as "the best win ever" after dark times for the club.

Castleford won the League Leaders’ shield but were unable to win rugby league’s biggest prize as they were defeated 24-6 by the Rhinos in the Manchester showpiece finale.

Danny McGuire produced the perfect swansong, leading Leeds to victory on his final appearance for his home-town club.

The Rhinos skipper scored two tries, helped to create others for winger Tom Briscoe and landed two drop goals in a man-of-the-match performance.

"That’s the final chapter of the book," McDermott told Sky Sports. "For us to make the Grand Final is a great story and we’ve just capped off the final chapter.

"I have been saying to my players all week that you don’t get many chances to have moments in life that stand out where every man, jack and his dog up the country will think, ‘They can’t go and win the Grand Final can they? Not from where they were’.

"We’ve done it. That group of people over there have gone through every emotion going in the last 18 months, the whole club.

"This isn’t just a coach’s win or the players’ win. Everybody at Leeds Rhinos, including the fans, who stood with us when the dark times were really, really dark, this is everybody’s. The whole club deserves this.

"Never did I dream in my wildest dreams that we’d get to Old Trafford never mind win it. Now look at us.

"It’s the best win ever this one."

Harry Sunderland Trophy winner McGuire echoed McDermott’s sentiments and paid tribute to the work ethic of the Rhinos.

"I have to give credit to the boys – that was an unbelievable effort. Cas are a really good team and have had a fantastic year.

"We came from a dark place last year but the commitment and the effort has been second to none and I cannot thank the boys enough. It is an unbelievable way to go out.

"We looked after the ball and aimed to kick it deep – we know Cas are a dangerous side when they have the ball so you have to play them down there end. I thought for the majority of the game our kicking game was good and we put them under pressure.

"The work ethic tonight was sensational – I don’t think you will ever see a better work ethic from a team."

Castleford coach Daryl Powell was left to rue a slew of handling errors by the Tigers.

"We saved our very worst ’til last," Powell said. "We just created too many errors and credit to Leeds, they deserved to win.

"We just made unforced errors, mistakes and dropping the ball is so hugely disappointing.

"You have to wait a long time before we can straighten it up but it is what it is.

"We’ve come to a big occasion and we made 18 errors and you can’t win a Grand Final playing like that.

"We have progressed so much this year and finished top of the table and come to a Grand Final.

"We have come up short – well short to be honest but I won’t take it away from Leeds as they deserved the victory.

"But for us, sometimes if you lose one, then you have to go and win the next one and we will use this as fuel to drive us on. The problem is we have all pre-season to go through and this will really hurt. It will hurt us a lot."

(c) Sky News 2017: Brian McDermott hails Leeds Rhinos’ Grand Final win as ‘best ever’