YEP Jury: Leeds Rhinos’ Super League return can’t come soon enough

CHRISTINE KIDD

The Super League season is to continue from August 2.

The first week will see a triple-header of games that were postponed before lockdown began and there will then be 15 rounds of games followed by top-four semi-final play-offs and a Grand Final at the end of November.

To start with all games will be behind closed doors with five clubs, including Leeds, vying to stage these games.

There will be no loop fixtures which will be a bonus and no Magic Weekend. No announcement has been made yet on relegation but it would seem rather unfair to relegate a team under these circumstances.

Rhinos’ players will return for a mini pre-season before their first game on August 2.

Squad strength and player fitness will be important and we may have to play more than one game a week to catch up.

Clubs hope to be able to make arrangements for supporters to view all games that take place behind closed doors.

It will be great to have Super League back and hopefully Leeds Rhinos will continue where they left off in March.

ADAM ANDERSON

In under five weeks’ time, Betfred Super League will return and it has certainly been missed.

I will be looking forward to this and hopefully the Leeds Rhinos lads come back just as good as they were playing just before lockdown.

The good thing about the break is that any injuries or niggles throughout the team have been rested and all players should come back fit and raring to go.

We have heard about a number of players available or leaving for 2021, Stevie Ward and Richie Myler for starters possibly going to Toronto Wolfpack, which as disappointing as it seems, is understandable.

Myler would get a starting spot in the halves there and it’s a fresh start for Ward who has had a traumatic time with injuries.

Another player possibly on the move is Liam Sutcliffe, which again, if he’s been given the certainty of a starting spot, who can blame him.

If we can replace those with Jai Field, Joe Greenwood and Dan Smith, I would be more than happy with that.

GRAHAM POULTER

So August 2 it is then when Super League can resume, all being well of course and depending if people behave themselves and follow the guidelines to the letter.

The news that the season can resume again is a huge boost to everyone that’s involved in the game, players and supporters. Let’s all hope that the season can be played out to its conclusion and I hope that Leeds can carry on from where they left off when lockdown happened.

The signs were looking really good for Leeds, playing good rugby and actually playing as a team in both attack and defence.

As it’s going to be a shortened season that should help the players with there being fewer games to play and hopefully we won’t suffer any injuries as the players have been off for so long.

Hopefully at some point before the season finishes a small amount of supporters will be allowed into the ground, but if not then I’m more than happy to wait for the start of next season when hopefully it’ll be safe for everyone to return and we can all get back to some sort of normality!

DIANNE HALL

It’s back…31 days and counting! At the time of writing we don’t know where the games will be played, but I’m hoping that it is our own HQ, Headingley, even though no-one will be allowed in.

If the return is based on the NRL then whichever grounds are chosen, they will have to be able to accommodate multiple teams and their entourages.

I know I’m biased but Headingley ticks all of the boxes, with numerous changing rooms (South Stand, North Stand, the Cricket Pavilion and maybe the hotel at a pinch).

Hopefully the players have been keeping themselves fit, unlike most of us, and injured players have recovered and are raring to go.

It will be interesting to see if Kruise Leeming is pitted against his old club, Huddersfield Giants, in our first game back.

Though there are in-form players ahead of him he will get his chance if the rumours of several weekly rounds go ahead.

The Grand Final is pencilled in for the end of November but the Challenge Cup is still a conundrum waiting to be solved.

IAN SHARP

In my best Arnie voice...“We are back”.

With the resumption of Super League on August 2, that gives the players a mini pre-season of about a month to get back ready for the competition.

The question is, will it be enough to get them ready to play the three games a week which have been rumoured?

What a re-start it will be too, three big games – maybe at Headingley – on a Sunday afternoon.

The only downside is that it will be played in an empty stadium, which is such a shame.

Let’s hope it won’t be too many games in to the resumption before we can get back in the stadium and watch live, with all the sounds and smells that come with game day. Within hours of the news there was already rumours of players leaving and players coming in!

That didn’t take long. It was good to hear from the club about their plans to compensate us season ticket holders in the upcoming months, and given three good options in my opinion.

Fingers crossed all goes to plan and the season gets underway on August 2.

MATT FOWLER

At last there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Five weeks from now the season will be back underway.

With only a mini pre-season happening at each club it will be clear from the outset which players have looked after themselves the best during lockdown. Previous performances may count for very little, but Leeds will be hoping they can continue their good form.

Confidence was the big factor for Leeds’ good start and there is no reason why they shouldn’t still have that confidence when the season resumes.

Players may well be rusty and not match fit for the first few weeks but the silver lining is we will have a few extra bodies back who were unavailable when the season came to an abrupt halt.

Kruise Leeming, Stevie Ward, Tom Briscoe and perhaps Jack Walker may all be ready to go on the restart which will be a great boost, especially if the season requires midweek games as we progress.

My only hope is, we the fans, can get back to see the games as soon as possible. Watching on TV will be nice but being back at Headingley is the real goal.

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