Brad Arthur confirms major Leeds Rhinos injury boost ahead of play-offs
Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur
Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur has confirmed all four of his major absentees will be fully fit for their play-off tie against St Helens.
Jake Connor, Ryan Hall, Andy Ackers and Lachie Miller were all absent for their 22-6 defeat to Wigan Warriors in the final round of the regular season, forcing Arthur into several key changes, but it seems they will all be back in contention.
The Rhinos will take on St Helens in next week’s elimination play-off in their first home play-off tie since 2017.
‘All four of those players will be back’
These key injuries in their backline led to a major reshuffle across his backline, with Chris Hankinson shifting to full-back, Riley Lumb coming onto the wing and Max Simpson starting at centre, but the Leeds boss has now confirmed he will have all of his key men back for next week’s tie.
“We’ve got to get through the week, but all four of those players will be back,” Arthur told Sky Sports. “That’ll be a whole left edge, we’ll have our left edge back which will be great.”
“We’ve been pretty good out of tonight,” he added. “No new injuries.”
Their respective returns to fitness will come as welcome news to the Rhinos faithful ahead of next weekend’s clash with St Helens. Connor and Miller have formed a formidable attacking unit this year, with Connor ending the campaign with 30 assists – the second-highest in the league – while Miller ended the season as top metre-maker with 4108 to his name.
Around that, Ackers has formed a nice synergy with Jarrod O’Connor in that hooker unit, while Hall has also been a mainstay in the Rhinos side this year with 26 appearances and 13 tries to his name in all competitions.
‘For the majority of it, I was pretty happy’
Arthur’s comments regarding the left edge come as no surprise as Wigan got plenty of change out of this makeshift unit, but despite that, the head coach insists he was proud of his side’s efforts in the loss.
“We weren’t fantastic tonight, but I thought we tried hard and scrambled well; they were just a very, very good team,” he said. “Our left edge probably didn’t have one guy that would resemble that position moving forward, but we’re stoked (to book a home play-off tie). We’ve earned the right to get a home final, and now we need to go and make the most of it.
“We got better as it went on,” he continued. “Max Simpson was a last-minute change on the wing, and we haven’t done one session with him on the wing this year. For the majority of it, I was pretty happy.”
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