Saturday 1 August 2015 17:14, UK
Leeds chief executive Gary Hetherington says the club are staying grounded despite remaining on course to complete what he claims would be a "phenomenal" clean sweep of rugby league's domestic trophies.
The Rhinos are top of Super League going into the Super 8s and are realistically the only team capable of doing the treble following their 24-14 Ladbrokes Challenge Cup semi-final win over St Helens, who were the last team to complete the hat-trick in 2006.
Brian McDermott's side have already surpassed most pre-season expectations, after going into the campaign with an ageing team and just one recruit in Australian prop Adam Cuthbertson.
However, now they have their sights on Grand Final glory, as well the league leaders' shield and the retention of the Challenge Cup.
"For any team to do the treble would be a phenomenal achievement in this day and age at this level of competition," Hetherington said.
"All the predictions from the media had us finishing no higher than fourth place so we've already surpassed expectations in that regard.
"But we've certainly not surpassed our own expectations. We were always extremely confident this could be a successful season.
"But, as Brian McDermott has pointed out, we've won nothing yet. We've just put ourselves in a good position and now we're coming to the crucial part of the season."
Hetherington has already been busy putting plans in place to ensure the continuation of the Rhinos' success in the future.
Mitch Garbutt has arrived early while fellow Australian Keith Galloway and Ireland international Anthony Mullally will be on board for 2016 as Leeds begin the considerable task of replacing retiring front rowers Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai.
Hetherington recently voted in favour of the new marquee-player rule and Leeds have been linked with a move for England's Sydney-based stand-off Gareth Widdop as a replacement for captain Kevin Sinfield, who will switch codes for a spell with sister club Yorkshire Carnegie at the end of the season.
But the Leeds chief executive played down talk of a major signing and does not expect much more movement in the transfer market.
"There's been rumours but our squad is pretty much intact for next year," Hetherington said.
"Our club voted in favour of the concept of the marquee player but at the same time I've stated that it was extremely unlikely that Leeds would be taking advantage of it.
"We reckon we've got half a dozen marquee players of our own and our challenge is to retain all our current marquee players."
