Leeds Rhinos boss praises players' 'unbelievable' commitment

Like all Betfred Super League clubs, Rhinos’ players have been unable to train together since March, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Their last game was a 66-12 home win over Toronto Wolfpack on March 5. The following weekend’s match at Catalans Dragons was cancelled after on-loan forward Joe Greenwood displayed possible coronavirus symptoms and Rhinos decided not to travel.

Rugby league was suspended on March 16 and a ban on mass gatherings shortly afterwards ended group training.

Leeds already had two matches in hand and nine have been postponed during the layoff, along with two Coral Challenge Cup rounds, but with lockdown restrictions being eased, live sport is beginning to restart.

Horse racing resumed yesterday and football’s Premiership and Championship are set to return later this month, behind closed doors, however it is likely to be two months before any more rugby league is played in this country.

Clubs are keen to limit the number of matches played without crowds and are working towards an August return, with spectators allowed into stadiums from the start of October.

In Australia, where the effects of the pandemic have been less severe, the NRL began again last week and clubs are hoping to open the gates to fans next month.

Rhinos chief executive Gary Hetherington, who is involved in drawing up the possible restart plan, has stressed all options are still being considered and it could be a month before a date is set, but Agar admitted having something to aim for has given his players a lift.

“I am not going to say the challenge of training alone has been easy, because it is not,” said the Leeds coach.

“There is a novelty when you start, but you do get challenged from a motivational point of view.

“There have been times when it has got challenging for them, we understand that.

“We anticipated it was going to be a long break and we weren’t too gung ho with our guys.

“We wanted them to tick over, but at the same time we were mindful we might be playing until December, or even longer and that is going to be a long season.

“At times when they have struggled for motivation, our attitude has been ‘if you are going through a patch like that, go off and do something else’.

“That might be a bike ride, or a day off and a barbecue and what you find is after a couple of days away from it, their natural instinct is they want to get back training.

“That has helped us get through. Everybody is different, but our players have been unbelievable.”

Agar admitted: “The biggest difficulty is around weight training, limited equipment, training on their own.

“At times that has been a challenge for them, but generally we could not have asked for much more from them.”

Clubs are still waiting to hear when group training will be given the green light, but Agar is confident there will be enough time for teams to prepare for their first match back.

Leeds could restart earlier than some of their rivals, to play their games in hand.

Agar said: “We never thought we’d get a phone call to say you’re back in on Monday and you’ve a game next week.

“We’ve always thought we might get a bit of an indication of when we’ll be back and a timescale to work towards.

“If we know August is a date to work to, then we can adjust our plans accordingly.”