Leeds Rhinos' Andy Ackers talks his form, owing the fans and needing to impress v past club London Broncos

Ackers has played in every game since joining Rhinos from Salford Red Devils in pre-season, being one of Leeds’ most consistent performers in a disappointing first third of the campaign. Leeds began Betfred Super League round 10 in eighth spot on the table, but Ackers feels both he and the side as a whole will improve with more time together on the field.

“The best is yet to come from me,” Ackers pledged. “I am still finding my feet. I am training as hard as I possibly can and trying my hardest with this new outfit. You aren’t expected to come to a new team and new culture and new organisation and just take off from where you last were.

“I am trying my best to find my form, but I am getting plenty of game time and the weather is starting to dry up now so the more I keep working together with the squad and putting my best foot forward, the better I’ll get. I still feel there’s a lot more in me.”

It is a similar story for the team, Ackers reckons. They picked up their first success in three games with an 18-12 victory at second-bottom Hull FC last Sunday, without playing anywhere near their best rugby and Ackers feels they will come good sooner rather than later.

“A win’s a win,” he stated. “We are still building as a team, we’ve got a great bunch here at Leeds and everyone’s giving the best account of themselves. Obviously we’ve had a few performances that haven’t gone our way and it was a scrappy performance at Hull, but we are building on it. We got the two points away from home and it’s back to winning ways; we’ve got a lot to work on and everyone’s doing their best to do that.”

Rhinos’ disappointing start to the campaign has put pressure on players and coaches and Ackers admitted that can take its toll. They lacked patience at times with ball in hand against Hull and the hooker reflected: “Sometimes it happens in games like that.

“You see opportunities and you can go away from your gameplan and try to chase opportunities elsewhere. You kind of get muddled up and try to force the pass, but we are all a new spine - it is a new team and we have got to stay positive and keep grinding away.

“We will click, but the most important thing last weekend was the two points and to come away with that was a positive. We’ll keep building together and I am sure we will get better.

“We just have to keep sticking together and put our best foot forward and I am sure the glue will stick.”

The victory at Hull lifted Leeds into credit in Super League, with five wins and a quartet of defeats, but they have lost their last four at AMT Headingley in all competitions and Ackers accepted they need to give their home crowd something to cheer about this week. He added: “It’s important to give the best account of ourselves at home, for the fans most importantly. They turn out in numbers at Headingley, the place is electric. We owe it to them and hopefully we can get the two points on Friday.”

London have yet to win since their surprise promotion at the end of last season. They were crushed 40-0 at Castleford Tigers last week, but will face an injury-hit Leeds team. Ackers - who scored 20 tries in 38 games for London in 2016-17 when they were in the second tier - warned: “We can’t take them lightly.

“They are still looking for their first win, but I know the coach - Mike Eccles - really well and he will be getting their lads firing. They had an unlucky result against Castleford, but we can’t think ‘Castleford put 40 on them and we beat Castleford’. We have got to take each game as it comes and stay as professional as we can and keep working hard and just focus on ourselves, not the opposition.

“We have got to give them respect. They are in Super League for a reason. They had a good year last year and Mike will have then fully driven. I am looking forward to meeting up with him and us giving the best account of ourselves.”