LEEDS coach Brian McDermott admitted his side enjoyed the perfect preparation for their play-off semi-final with a 36-12 victory over Huddersfield in the last round of the Super 8s.

Skipper Danny McGuire and long-serving half-back partner Rob Burrow, both in their final season with the Rhinos, took their combined try tally in Super League to 404 as the visitors ran out comfortable winners at the John Smith's Stadium.

The only disappointment for McDermott was the loss of second-rower Brett Delaney with a hamstring tear which will force him to miss next Friday's clash with Hull at Headingley.

McDermott said: "It was a good workout. Lots of blokes were physically challenged and we've come out of it with no injuries, apart from Brett Delaney. It's not looking good for him and I don't think he will play (against Hull)."

Leeds never looked back after racing into a 16-0 lead courtesy of tries from Kallum Watkins, McGuire and Jimmy Keinhorst.

McGuire added a second after the break to extend his lead at the top of the Super League chart to 236 and Burrow scored his 168th to climb up to eighth on the all-time list.

McDermott said: "It was a difficult one to gauge because I wasn't sure what Huddersfield would be like – and we unapologetically had our minds on next week (semi-final) – but there was a lot of commitment to our defence.

"We showed a very good attitude. It was a tough encounter to start with, so I'm very pleased. I'm not being disrespectful to Huddersfield but against a switched-on defence, I'm not sure we would have scored as many tries."

McDermott admits that McGuire will be sorely missed when he joins promoted Hull KR next season.

"He's still one of the best half-backs who can play what's in front of him," said the Leeds coach.

He will now turn his entire focus on Hull, who were 48-16 winners against leaders Castleford to clinch a second successive top-four finish.

McDermott said: "They're a good team, extremely physical, and we're going to have to be good. We'll have to roll our sleeves up and get our tackling shoulders ready."

Huddersfield coach Rick Stone could not hide his disappointment after his side ended the season with a fourth successive defeat, despite scoring tries through back-rowers Michael Lawrence and Ryan Hinchcliffe.

Stone said: "We've a few injuries but we didn't manage the game as well as we could have. Defensively, the soft tries we conceded were really frustrating for us.

"At this level, you've got to make the opposition work for tries and we handed them a couple. It was a wet slippery night but Leeds definitely showed more resilience in defence."