Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur makes huge call on Ashes involvement

Brad Arthur has revealed he has “no interest” in becoming part of Australia’s coaching staff for their Ashes series with England – due to family reasons.

The Leeds Rhinos boss, and Super League counterparts John Cartwright and Willie Peters, have been touted as potential candidates for an assistant coach role on Kevin Walters’ staff.

But Arthur said today that he will not be pursuing a role with the Kangaroos during what is essentially Leeds’ off-season.

“I’ve made my decision”

Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday’s trip to Hull FC, Arthur said this afternoon: “I haven’t spoken to Kev. It would be nice and a real honour to be involved in that, but I’ve made the decision that I’m going to put my family first.

“I haven’t seen my boys for a long time and they’re coming over in a couple of weeks to spend a month with us. I’m going to put my family first and not my career – so I’ve got no interest in going down that path.

“We’re going to spend some family time together once the season is over here.”

Arthur said he would be more than happy to offer Walters any advice or tips about the British game ahead of the first Ashes series in 22 years.

He also backed Hull FC boss Cartwright or Hull Kingston Rovers chief Peters to succeed if either were appointed as Walters’ assistant.

Arthur added: “I’m happy to help and give him my opinion on how I feel the game is over here.

“Anything I can offer I’m happy to help but in terms of any interest in the job, I’m putting my family first and focusing on having a strong end to this season.

“Both those guys [Cartwright and Peters] are doing a really good job with their clubs and know the English competition well.

“I’m sure they’ll be of great assistance and I think it’s a good idea from the NRL to involve one of the coaches from this competition.”

Meanwhile, Cooper Jenkins and Mikolaj Oledzki could both be back in contention to face the Black and Whites on Saturday but Ash Handley will be missing due to a groin problem.

Arthur revealed: “Mik and Cooper trained today, so I think Mik’s definite and with Cooper we’ll just see how he pulls up on Thursday.

“But he looked to be pretty good and it would be a good boost to have those guys available because they’ve been an integral part of our team all season.

“They’re pretty keen to get back out there and have a couple of games before we move into the finals (play-offs) hopefully.

“We still haven’t got a full grip on exactly what’s happening with Ash, but I know he’s going to be out for a couple of weeks.

“We’ve got to see when it settles, and he’s seeing some specialists at the moment.

“He’s been great, and it’s a blow, but we’ve had plenty of those this year, and we’ve worked really hard not to focus on it.”

Joe Shorrocks, recently signed from crisis club Salford, is also edging closer towards his Rhinos debut.

“He’s really close and has trained really well today, so he’s not far off,” said Arthur.

“His attitude is very good and he competes hard. He’s actually lifted the quality of the training as well, so he’s done a good job with that.”