Leeds Rhinos’ Cup final line-up ticked all the right boxes says Richard Agar

Rugby Football League regulations require coaches to name a 21-man squad two days before a game.

Of the initial group announced on Thursday, full-back Jack Walker, winger Luke Briscoe, prop Tom Holroyd and back-rower Cameron Smith were left out of the team which beat Salford Red Devils 17-16 at Wembley, with Alex Sutcliffe – who had not played since the end of last month – making his eighth appearance for Leeds off the bench.

The centre or second-rower – who is no relation to his team-mate Liam Sutcliffe – and veteran forward Adam Cuthbertson were added to the team which beat Wigan Warriors in the semi-final two weeks earlier, which meant Holroyd and Smith dropping out.

“One of the reasons was we felt we needed more cover for the backs,” Agar said of Alex Sutcliffe’s inclusion.

“We thought if we went into the final and lost an edge player or a back, going in with three middles, we were concerned that – against a team that ask a lot of questions of your edge defence – having to use one of our back-rowers out in the centre, we would lose too much.

“When Alex has played he has never let us down and one thing he can do, as we saw on Saturday, is tackle.

“He is fearless, he carries the ball hard, but his front-on defence is among the best in the club.

“The fact he can play centre/second-row – and we had a bit of versatility with Richie Myler and Liam Sutcliffe – meant we would cover more bases.

“If Alex had to do five or 10 minutes as a middle player towards the end of the game, with his energy, we were confident his defence was good enough to do that.

“It was definitely a horse for a course.”

That left Cuthbertson, Holroyd and Smith competing for the one remaining place on the bench, alongside Alex Sutcliffe, Brad Dwyer and James Donaldson. Agar added: “The decision then was we had three middles and unfortunately only a spot for one of them.

“Whoever we picked we were ultra-confident could do the job.

“We are a team that didn’t have too much big-game experience and Cuthbo has got some. There wasn’t a struck match between Tommy, Cam and Cuthbo, other than Cuthbo had a little bit more experience and we did feel it was a game for an extra front-rower, given we’d already got Donno [James Donaldson] locked in on the bench, rather than another back-rower.”

The decision to go with a back on the bench paid off when winger Tom Briscoe went off for a head injury assessment in the second half.

But Agar admitted breaking the news to 19-year-old Holroyd and Smith, 21, was “tough”.

He said: “We think a lot about our players and it actually took a bit of shine off the week for me.

“Both kids were naturally and quite rightly gutted and heartbroken by it.

“That’s my job, I have got to make tough decisions sometimes and it was a tough one; it was tough on a personal level because I think so much about the kids and I knew how much it would hurt them.

“It was also a tough decision because I genuinely felt whichever way we went we would be okay, but we felt Cuthbo would give us everything we needed – and experience – and we went with another inexperienced player in Alex.

“I did feel when Tommy Briscoe got his head injury that justified why we made that decision, because we definitely managed that period better at a very difficult time in the game. Some of Alex’s tackles in such a big game, at such a crucial time, were magnificent.

“But, on a personal note, it was very difficult for the guys who were left out and it had a real impact on me because I know we would have got the job done with either player [Smith or Holroyd] in the team.”

Walker missed out to man-of-the-match Richie Myler, who has impressed in the full-back role since the specialist number one suffered a foot injury in February.

Agar said: “We felt with Jack the game had simply come two or three weeks too early for him and obviously the form of Richie meant we didn’t think we needed the risk of playing him while he was a little bit underdone, especially in a game of that magnitude.

“Jack handled it fine, he understood.”

Agar stressed: “Seventeen blokes don’t win you a cup, your squad does.

“The fact we were able to field two treams [last Tuesday against Warrington and for the final] helped us in a game that has a real attritional element to it.

“We are keen to stress, while 17 players took to the field, it is absolutely a squad effort.”

Cuthbertson featured either side of half-time, but was injured early in the second half.

The 35-year-old Australian, who will join York City Knights next year, suffered damage to the a/c joint in a shoulder and is being assessed.

If confirmed as serious, the injury could end his Rhinos career prematurely.

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