Health comes first during coronavirus crisis says Leeds Rhinos' James Donaldson

Rhinos have not played since their 66-12 thrashing of Toronto Wolfpack three weeks ago.

That win lifted Rhinos top of the table, until Wigan overhauled them three days later.

Donaldson admitted the sport’s shutdown, due to coronavirus, came at a bad time for Leeds, disrupting their four-match winning run, but insisted: “There’s more things to worry about than rugby.”

The players are not in a high-risk group, but have the same concerns as everybody else about family and friends and that overrides worries about when the season might resume.

He said: “Obviously people’s health is the main concern at the moment.

“I think it’s a bit different for every person, everyone’s in a bit of a different position.

“Personally, it doesn’t really worry me too much - it probably worries me more about some of my older family, my brother who has a problem with his breathing.

“It is them I am worried about, not myself.”

The Rugby Football League have confirmed the sport will be shut down “considerably longer” than the initial three-week period announced 10 days ago.

Donaldson added: “Rugby-wise, it is a bit strange - you don’t know when we are going to play the next game and that uncertainty is a bit strange, really.

“I suppose we just have to go about our business until we get told otherwise.

“It is tough for the players after all the work they put in in pre-season and we have got off to a pretty solid start.

“We were just starting to build a bit of confidence up and then you miss a few games and it’s like back to square one.

“We are still training [from home], but it just stops the momentum a bit.”

Rhinos were due to visit Castleford Tigers tonight for what would have been an electric derby encounter, with the hosts sitting second in Betfred Super League, one place and two points clear of Leeds.

Instead, this will be the Headingley outfit’s third successive weekend without a game after their fixture at Catalans Dragons was postponed and then last Friday’s visit of St Helens fell victim to the sport-wide shutdown.

“The players that have been playing have been doing a really good job, but it is a problem for us,” Donaldson conceded.

“At some stage we are going to have to make up the games we’ve missed and we’ll probably have to play three games in a week, which takes a lot out of the body as well.

“It is tough on the body and when you want to keep all your players fit and playing their best rugby every week it is not ideal, but we will deal with that when we come to it.”

Donaldson confirmed Rhinos have been doing everything they can to help keep players healthy and in good shape.

He said: “The club have been awesome.

“We are getting all the help we need, they are making sure we’ve got the right things and we’re taking the right supplements to keep our immune systems strong.”

Rhinos’ decision not to travel to France has left the club facing possible punishment from the Rugby Football League.

Leeds were due to make the journey to Perpignan, via Barcelona, the day before the game, but decided not to go after on-loan forward Joe Greenwood began showing possible coronavirus symptoms.

He tested negative for the illness, but the lockdown in France and Spain and cancellation of flights would have left Rhinos facing a battle to get home, had they gone ahead.

Donaldson said: “The club made the right decision on behalf of the players.

“With players having a bit of illness, they could not risk it.”