Leeds Rhinos v St Helens latest team news as Brad Arthur confirms 2 miss out through injury
Two members of Leeds Rhinos’ 21-man squad will miss tomorrow’s top of the table home clash with St Helens because of injury.
Speaking at his preview press conference today (Thursday), coach Brad Arthur revealed centre Jack Bird and prop Tom Holroyd aren’t ready to return. That means Leeds are likely to field the same 17 which thumped Huddersfield Giants 52-0 two weeks ago, with Harry Newman continuing at centre and Presley Cassell retaining his place on the bench.
Both Bird (knee injury) and Holroyd (back) were included in Rhinos’ initial squad and Arthur admitted: “I was hoping to have some tough decisions to make, but Jack’s probably not quite ready. Because our squad’s in a good position, we don’t need to rush any players. The other thing is, Harry had one of his better games for us in the last game. That creates nice, healthy competition.”
Arthur added: “Tom’s not quite right yet either. He is probably another week or two away so I haven’t really had to make any of those tough decisions.”
The coach also said 20-year-old Fergus McCormack will get another opportunity at full-back in place of Lachie Miller who is one game into a three-match ban. McCormack made his Betfred Super League debut against Giants and Arthur recalled: “He was good in his first game.
“He probably over-played or over-tried early in the piece, doing a few things that probably weren’t part of his job, but the only way he is going to get experience is by getting out there and playing. This is another level of experience for him.
“He is going to be under a fair bit of pressure and well planned against and the good thing about it is he has a good team around him. It is their job to make his job as easy as possible by everyone in the team doing their role.
“He will get a couple of things wrong again, but you could see last time he didn’t go away from it and wasn’t scared of making an error or getting something wrong. He has just got to manage his body a little bit better at times.”
Leeds Rhinos: from Sivo, Newman, Handley, Hall, Croft, Connor, Oledzki, O’Connor, Holroyd, Watkins, McDonnell, Palasia, Hankinson, Jenkins, Smith, Cassell, Lumb, Levi, Nicholson-Watton, F McCormack, Bird.
St Helens from: Welsby, Feldt, Robertson, Percival, Cross, Sailor, Lomax, Walmsley, Clark, Sironen, Wright, Klemmer, Delaney, Whitley, Whitby, Murphy, Shorrocks, Dagnall, Davies, Sinclair, Humphreys.
Referee: Jack Smith (Wigan). Kick-off: Thursday, 8pm.