Leeds Rhinos: New signings Blake Austin, Aidan Sezer and James Bentley please coach Richard Agar in Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge win over Wakefield Trinity

Half-backs Blake Austin and Aidan Sezer and second-rower James Bentley all made their first appearance for Leeds.

Rhinos’ other off-season signing, winger David Fusitu’a, was at the game and spoke to the crowd before kick-off, but did not play.

Of his half-backs - who played together for Canberra Raiders in Australia’s NRL - Agar admitted: “We would expect some of our attack to be a bit clunky the first time we’ve played together, but also there were some bits of management in there and I thought the way they kicked the ball was a good sign for us moving forward.”

Leeds-born Bentley made his comeback from a back injury suffered playing for St Helens at the Magic Weekend in September.

Agar rated his performance as “good”, saying: “High energy, as we know.

“Defensively he was very good, he sets the tone on line speed and contact and I thought our right-edge - which probably got most of the traffic in the first half - came up with some good defensive plays when they had to.”

Rhinos got through “fairly unscathed”, Agar confirmed.

“James [Bentley] felt a bit of soreness in an Achilles so we took him off,” he reported.

“Aidan rolled his action a fraction, but nothing too much for us to worry about.

“The first question I asked Willie [Poching, Wakefield’s coach] after the game was ‘how are you doing in that regard’ and I think both teams have come through fairly unscathed.

“I think both teams had a good crack. They probably had some unfamiliar names on the teamsheet, but I thought they came and played with tons of enthusiasm.”

Most of Rhinos’ players will now get a break before training resumes in the new year.

Agar said: “A lot of the guys who haven’t played, who are maybe coming back from injuries, will be in, making sure we are on top of all that.

“Everybody who played [yesterday] will be off until January 2 or 3, but our training centre is manned and we’ve got some bits to do over that period.

“It is not a complete shutdown for us.”