Leeds Rhinos coach explains Ethan Clark-Wood signing, reveals chances of Super League round one debut

The Australian back arrived in England on Monday to begin a one-year contract as a replacement for injured winger Maika Sivo. Asked at his preview press conference today (Wednesday) if Clark-Wood will feature in Saturday’s Betfred Super League opener at home to Wakefield Trinity, coach Brad Arthur admitted: “I doubt it, but he trained all right and we’ll just see what happens when we get to Saturday.”

Clark-Wood is primarily a centre, but Arthur stressed his role for Leeds has yet to be decided. Harry Newman and Ash Handley are first-choice centres this season and 20-year-old Riley Lumb took Sivo’s place on the left-wing for last Saturday’s 92-0 hammering of Wests Warriors in the Challenge Cup.

“I need to spend a bit more time with him than one session before I can start to make opinions or judgements,” Arthur stated. “What I do know is we’ve got two good centres there at the moment who are ready to go. Riley [Lumb] has done a good job for us on the wing and he’s ready to go, so all it’s doing is adding a bit more depth to our squad and a bit more competition for spots.”

Of his initial impressions, the coach added: “He is nice and fast, but until we get him doing a bit more work at training…he only got off the plane a couple of days ago, we did a little bit of work with him today, but didn’t push him too hard. We’ll extend it over the next couple of days and see what happens moving forward.”

Leeds approached Clark-Wood, who had been training with NRL side Gold Coast Titans, early last week. With Sivo set to miss the whole season because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury, he has taken the Fijian international’s place on Rhinos’ overseas quota. “A couple of years ago I had an eye on him when I was back at home, just looking to give an opportunity to some young blokes,” Arthur - a former Parramatta Eels coach - said.

“It didn’t work out, for whatever reason, but when Maika went down we were on the look for someone who can play a few spots in the backline - wing, centre, full-back. He can cover a few of those.

“He’s young, he’s keen and he’s looking for an opportunity. He got here Monday, trained today and looked all right, so we’ll just wait and see now.”