Leeds Rhinos stand-in captain confirmed
Leeds Rhinos coach Dave Furner has appointed Brett Ferres as captain for Friday night’s game at Hull.
Ferres will take over from Kallum Watkins who misses out because of bruising to a knee.
Watkins has played in all five of Rhinos’ Betfred Super League fixtures this season after recovering from major knee surgery last year and Furner said he will not be out long-term.
“The last one was a bit of concern and he could not perform the way he’d want to perform.
“He has been progressing quite well, but to the credit of our medical staff they took him straight to the specialist.
“His knee is quite sound and the operation he had previously, that’s not the problem.
“It’s just bone bruising and he is not able to play the way he’d want to play.
“It is going to be a big blow; he is our captain, which gives a chance to Brett Ferres to captain the side [on Friday].”
As reported in Monday’s Yorkshire Evening Post, Stevie Ward could be out for 12 weeks due to a knee injury.
Furner said Jamie Jones-Buchanan is “getting close” to his comeback from nerve damage in his back.
Hull are on a two-game winning run and Furner said they are playing “good football”, but he insisted Rhinos are focusing on themselves and a huge improvement from last week’s 35-18 loss to Wakefield Trinity.
“He said: “Across the board we need to improve.
“It wasn’t wasn’t good enough and it’s not the standard we expect.
“We need to hold our nerve and have that composure at times when things are not going how we want them to.”