Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur reveals Christmas wish ahead of Boxing Day v Wakefield Trinity

Rhinos face Wakefield Trinity on Boxing Day in the annual Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge and Arthur stressed: “All I want for Christmas is to make sure the boys get through healthy.”

Leeds have already suffered a major blow with the loss of 20-year-old full-back Alfie Edgell, who has undergone surgery after suffering a fractured jaw in training last Friday. He was due to start Thursday’s game in place of Lachie Miller, who is recovering from an off-season hamstring injury.

Morgan Gannon (Achilles) and hamstring injury victims Ben Littlewood, Ned McCormack and Fergus McCormack are also ruled out of the Christmas fixture and Arthur is anxious to avoid fresh injury woes.

“We’ve got some blokes returning from rehab who are well on track, so fingers crossed we get through the trial matches,” he said. “We want to start with a healthy squad in round one.”

Leeds’ first competitive game is still six weeks away and Arthur admitted he initially thought playing on December 26 was “a bit odd”, but the former Parramatta Eels boss insisted: “I am excited about it now.”

He said: “It’s a tradition that’s happened here for a long time. We are looking forward to seeing where we are at and most guys will only get 40-50 minutes for their first hit-out. You can do all the training you like, but until you get out there you don’t actually know where you’re at.

“At least we get a good early look at where we are at, then we’ve got a couple of weeks after that to go about trying to maintain some good areas and improve some areas that need fixing going into the second trial.”

New signings Ryan Hall, Maika Sivo, Jake Connor, Keenan Palasia and Cooper Jenkins are all in Rhinos’ squad for Thursday and Arthur said: “I think they are excited. It will be good for [the imports] to get a feel of the competition here, playing in different weather and temperature.

“It is going to be a big learning for those guys and they are looking forward to having that experience in a game where it’s important, but it’s not worth two points. They can get a good feel for the style of footy and the environment they are going to have to play in.”

Rhinos, whose other practice game is against Wigan Warriors on January 26, began training last month and Arthur reckons he has “taken some learnings” from his first English pre-season. “We have been in for five or six weeks and it’s something a little bit different for me,” he reflected.

“It has been a good experience for me and a good learning experience, having to get a team up and running and ready for a game six weeks in. Usually I’ve had six or seven weeks before Christmas and then five to six after it before we’ve played a game.”

Players will be told their squad number for next season following the Boxing Day game, with a public announcement made on January 1. “We have got a fair idea of the squad numbers at present, but I just want every player to feel like they’ve got the opportunity to earn one of the one-13 or one-17 jerseys,” Arthur explained.

“I also want them to understand the importance of every game matters and not taking anything for granted. Competition is very healthy in the forward pack. I have got a fair idea of what it should look like, but that’s off the back of training.

“They have got to get out there and play. Whatever jersey number the players get given, that doesn’t mean it is locked and loaded either, but if we can get it as close as we can to what we want it to look like, that’d be good.”