Leeds Rhinos v Leigh Leopards: latest team news, milestones and 21-man squads for Super League top-6 clash

After five games out with a foot injury, Hall is set to replace Alfie Edgell who suffered season-ending quad muscle damage during last Friday’s win at Wakefield Trinity. It will be Hall’s 419th Super League game, lifting him to 10th place on the competition’s all-time list of appearance makers.

“It is good for Hally,” Arthur said of the 38-year-old’s return. “He has been keen to get back out there. It’s good for the team, gives them a good lift - another senior player helps in these sorts of games. I am happy for him, he has worked hard to get back.

“These guys are never going to be 100 per cent fit at this time of the year. Hally is probably not 100 per cent, but he has worked hard to get back out there and close enough is good enough to be on the field.”

With Danny Levi still on the casualty list - alongside Maika Sivo, Keenan Palasia, Max Simpson, Ben Littlewood and George Brown - Jarrod O’Connor is set to play 80 minutes at hooker for the fourth successive game. Arthur admitted: “If you ask him, he can do it all year.

“I reckon he probably could. Do we want him to do that? No, but he’s tough. Probably the blessing in disguise for him is he had that week off [because of concussion] leading into what happened to Danny, so probably a good rest.

“The other thing is, because we’ve been rotating our nines a fair bit, his body is still good and his energy levels are still high. He feels like this is what he wanted to be doing from the start.

“To both those guys’ credit, they’ve been really supporting each other and happy for each other when one gets more time than the other. They have formed a really good combination and sometimes that can be hard to manage, having two nines, because they both want to start and want more minutes, but these guys have really come together and worked well together.”

Arthur admitted he is likely to revert to two hookers in the 17 when Levi is available. “Jarrod can also cover a few other spots, he can go to the middle and he’s happy to do whatever’s best for the team, so that helps,” he added.

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“I think with the rule changes and the way the game is going, it is hard to have one hooker there for the full 80 minutes. They get targeted in defence and they’ve got to get to every play-the-ball; they touch the ball at least 100 times in every game, picking it up from dummy-half and 99 out of 100 passes has to be their best pass - it becomes a tough job.”

Levi hasn’t played since suffering a neck injury in Leeds’ defeat at Castleford Tigers four weeks ago. Arthur confirmed: “He is really keen to get out there and play. It could be only a couple of weeks.

“He has got another check up next week, his strength has come back, he is going good in the gym, he is upbeat and he wants to be playing. It is just making sure we get the all-clear on the next scan and then he won’t need a whole heap of contact work - he has been doing that his whole life. We just need to make sure it’s safe, but he is really close.”

Mikolaj Oledzki will make his 200th appearance for Rhinos and fellow prop Tom Holroyd is set to reach 100 in blue and amber. It will be the 350th game of Leigh back Gareth O’Brien’s career. The only change to Leigh’s 21-man squad sees AJ Towse replace Will Brough, who was an unused reserve against York Knights last week.

Leeds Rhinos: from Miller, Newman, Handley, Hall, Croft, Connor, Oledzki, O’Connor, Holroyd, Watkins, McDonnell, Hankinson, Jenkins, C Smith, Cassell, Lumb, N McCormack, Nicholson-Watton, F McCormack, Lloyd, Bird.

Leigh Leopards: from Armstrong, Hanley, Charnley, Cook, Lam, Ofahengaue, Ipape, Mulhern, Trout, Liu, Alick-Wiencke, Davis, Horne, Senior, Towse, O’Brien, Hughes, Badrock, McNamara, Brogan, Brown.

Referee: Chris Kendall (Huddersfield). Kick-off: Tonight (Thursday), 8pm.