‘Penalised’ Leeds Rhinos face ‘significant’ challenges says Richard Agar

But he insists his team – who begin a run of six games in little more than two weeks when they take on St Helens at TW Stadium tonight – will give it a “really good go”.

Agar’s initial 21-man squad for tonight includes only seven players who featured in the Coral Challenge Cup final win over Salford Red Devils six days ago.

Agar admitted the champions and league leaders are a “massive challenge” for his young side and he stressed: “We desperately want to make the top-four, but I think things have fallen in a very difficult way for us.”

He said: “Before our Challenge Cup games, we decided to field less-experienced teams against a couple of top-four sides, we are coming off the back of a very tiring, emotional weekend and now we have got six games in 17 days – and three games in six days after [tonight].

“For us, it is about getting a balance.

“We are going to get a team out there [at St Helens] as strong as we possibly can, but I am keen not to play anyone who is not 100 per cent fit.

“We have got players who I know if I play them in this game they probably won’t play in the next two or three.

“I know if we let them get closer to 100 per cent, then they have a chance of playing in the Castleford and Wakefield games at least but, after that, it is going to be an absolute rotation of the squad.

“No one else is playing that amount of games in that number of days so I do feel the Challenge Cup has given us significantly more challenges than the other teams chasing a spot. If we can pull it off, it will be an enormous achievement for us and we will give it a really good go.”

With not every club expected to complete their 20-match fixture list, the final table this year will be decided on win percentage rather than competition points.

Teams need to play a minimum of 15 games to qualify for the top-four.

Rhinos have played 13 and are fifth on the ladder after losses to the sides immediately above them, Catalans Dragons and Warrington Wolves, when Agar fielded inexperienced line-ups to rest key players for the Cup semi-final and finals.

The coach insisted he is not looking for excuses or complaining about the way things have turned out.

“We played one less game in the Challenge Cup this year,” he pointed out.

“Getting through in the Challenge Cup has almost penalised us and I sort of feel we have been penalised by games being called off by other teams, but that is not their fault.

“We all knew it wasn’t going to be equal when it comes to deciding these places [in the top-four].

“There is probably a chance there’s going to be an element of unfairness in it and I think we are going to bear the brunt of that. However, it is not going to stop us having a right good go at it.

“We are not moaning and whinging and looking at other clubs and how the cards might have fallen for them; that’s purely and simply the way it is.”

Agar feels whatever happens over the next few weeks, Rhinos will be better for it in the future.

“We will find out some more stuff about our squad,” he predicted.

“If it hurts us in the short term and we don’t make it, we will have got some great experience into some of our young guys moving forward.

“They are all up for it. We are going to have to manage it, we aren’t going to get our best 17 on the field every time, but we will give it a go.”

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