Amid all the new rules and proposals discussed at last week's Super League meeting, you could forgive Steve McNamara for requesting all games end on 78 minutes.

At least all games against Leeds.

It would be a strange suggestion but you could understand McNamara's thinking given the last-gasp heartache his side have suffered against Rhinos.

In the previous three clashes, the Bulls have lost each time in the final two minutes, twice in the desperate last few seconds.

Once is bad, twice is gut-wrenching, three times, especially given those remarkable circumstances of Millennium Magic, and it's time for drastic measures.

Unfortunately, matches do still run to 80 minutes and on that basis, McNamara is still somehow awaiting his first victory over Leeds as Bulls head coach.

He admits, given the history, the prospect of facing Leeds again tomorrow night and another dreaded last-second drama is a "really nervous time to be a coach."

But, although he may conceivably have lost some hair, McNamara has never lost confidence in his squad and is adamant they can end their barren run.

Indeed, ahead of the expected Headingley sell-out, he insisted they should already be three wins up.

"I feel we have been the better side in all those nip and tuck games," McNamara maintained.

"I do genuinely believe that. But we've dropped off a little bit in concentration and composure and it's come back to bite us on on the backside."

It must be hard to coach players to "close-out" such finely-balanced games when bodies are weary and just one individual lapse can prove so fatal.

But McNamara said: "You make them aware of it.

"We run different scenarios if we're at this stage to show what we do.

"Where do you put your kicks, where do you find your last plays? It's stuff you can work on and we have."

There are so many tasty ingredients going into tomorrow's contest aside from the obvious huge derby credentials.

It is the first time the sides have met since that infamous Cardiff affair, both are fighting it out for top spot, Leeds boss Tony Smith and McNamara were in tandem there with Great Britain a week ago and it is also Lesley Vainikolo's final game. McNamara reckons none of that spice is needed.

"I think it's extra special already because it's a sell-out. With 22,000 at Headingley, it doesn't get much bigger than that anyway," he said.

"Les has had one send-off already. He's getting another one this time around and he'll be keen to do well, as we all are, not just for ourselves but for him as well. I think the whole occasion is bigger than Les though and that's no disrespect to him."

He continued: "We were disappointed at the time (in Cardiff) and I think we had a right to be disappointed.

"We've been on the wrong end of two scorelines against them (this season) and want to make sure we get two points this time around."

But McNamara can't take a fourth successive nail-biter and admitted: "I want to be well in front at the end - 13 points would be nice!"