Papua New Guinea ace, 32, passed 1,000 Super League points as he finally kicked goals in a game for the first time in five months.
Rhyse Martin passed 1,000 Super League points and admitted Arthur Mourgue’s going to bring out the best in his own goalkicking. Robins second-row Martin chalked up the notable milestone with two tries and seven goals in their record 74-12 win at Salford.
He needed ten points heading into the contest with the Super League leaders and conceded: “I did know it was coming. I didn’t know when I was going to get it. But yeah, it was nice to do it and another nice, personal accolade. It’s not something you think about very often, though. I’ve just got to stay around long enough to get 2,000 now!”
The Papua New Guinea ace rattled off the bulk of his points tally in Leeds Rhinos colours, scoring 976 during his six seasons at Headingley. His stellar goalkicking was one of the primary reasons Willie Peters brought him in ahead of this season.
But Martin tore a quad in only the third round of Super League also, ironically, against Salford in February. That required surgery and saw him miss four months of action, returning in the narrow win against Wakefield at the end of June.
In his absence, though, Rovers – who have snared Declan Murphy from Salford – bought French full-back Mourgue in from Catalans in March and he’s been the main goalkicker since. Morgue managed to convert just one of their opening four tries in the annihilation of Salford, though, meaning Martin was called up to take over duties.
He finished with seven from nine attempts, showing the sort of lethal marksmanship that has seen become one of Super League’s most reliable goalkickers. But it was also the first time Martin had lined up from the tee since his return from injury four games ago.
The 32 year-old explained: “Thursday was just an opportunity because I haven’t kicked properly for a long time. That was the first time and this week’s probably been the first week at training that I’ve been practicing that I had no pain.
“So it was an opportunity where I could get a few kicks in through the game and we rotated that nicely. I think I did probably hit the limit that the medical staff wanted me to do and that’s when Arthy came back and took over again.”
Mourgue improved Tom Davies’ second try on the hour mark before Martin nailed his last kick, converting Jez Litten’s late score. Rarely can one side have two such impressive goalkickers.
But asked if Mourgue had come over to offer him the tee after that rare off-spell, he replied: “Definitely not. I wouldn’t want to either.
““We’re not like that. You know, you don’t want to give the kicking tee up.
“But the call came down from up top. It’s hard as a player when that call comes down. But he just carried on, did his job, and, you know, I’ve got a lot of respect for goal-kickers because it is a tough job, especially when it’s a night that’s not your finest.
“You’ve got to kick when the pressure’s there. It is hard. Arthur’s been doing such a good job. All respect to him.
“And we just work together as a team: we’re going to push each other in training now and be the best kickers we can be.”
It will be interesting to see who gets first crack at the job when Rovers host Castleford on Saturday bidding to take another big step towards a maiden League Leaders’ Shield.