St Helens v Leeds Rhinos: Richard Agar says team changes "possible" for Super League semi-final

Changes might be made to Leeds Rhinos’ lineup for the Betfred Super League semi-final at St Helens tonight, coach Richard Agar says.
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Agar will select from the 17 players who beat Wigan Warriors last week, plus utility-back Jack Broadbent and forwards Alex Mellor, King Vuniyayawa and Morgan Gannon.

Mellor has missed 10 games since suffering a knee injury and Vuniyayawa damaged a foot four weeks ago.

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Both were named in the initial squad last week, but not selected on the night, when Broadbent and Gannon dropped out from the previous game.

King Vuniyayawa. Picture by Tony Johnson.King Vuniyayawa. Picture by Tony Johnson.
King Vuniyayawa. Picture by Tony Johnson.

Agar confirmed: “We have considered the odd little tweak, which is a good position to be in at this stage of the year.

“I am really confident in pretty much every guy we’ve got in that 21.

“We’ll look at the opposition and work through our bench rotation and see what’s best for us, but we have considered [changes].”

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Saints coach Kristian Woolf has recalled the big names who were rested when his side lost 26-14 at Salford Red Devils in their final game of the regular season two weeks ago.

Lachlan Coote, Tommy Makinson, Kevin Naiqama, Mark Percival, Alex Walmsley, James Roby, Morgan Knowles and Joe Batchelor are all set to return tonight

Sione Mata’utia could feature for the first time since being injured in the win over Leeds three weeks ago and Agnatius Paasi is available after a two-match ban.

Josh Simm, Josh Eaves, Dan Norman, Sam Royle, Jonathon Bennison and Shay Martyn drop out.

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St Helens: Coote, Makinson, Naiqama, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Thompson, Knowles, Mata’utia, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Amor, Paasi, Welsby, A Smith,Batchelor, Dodd, Wingfield, Davies.

Leeds Rhinos: from T Briscoe, Newman, Hurrell, Handley, Lui, Oledzki, Leeming, Prior, Mellor, Martin, Tetevano, Dwyer, Myler, C Smith, Holroyd, Vuniyayawa, Thompson, L Briscoe, Donaldson, Broadbent, Gannon.

Referee: Chris Kendall (Huddersfield).

Kick-off: Today, 7.45pm.

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