Leeds Rhinos coach reveals worsened half-back crisis as fresh injury doubts detailed

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur admits they are ‘all over the shop’ in relation to who will line up in the halves against Castleford Tigers on Sunday.

The Rhinos went into this week knowing that they would be without Brodie Croft after the Australian was concussed during their win at Salford Red Devils in Round 2.

Having been stretchered off, Croft is unavailable for Sunday’s clash with Castleford at Headingley as he follows head injury protocols.

But Arthur’s woes extend further in the playmaker department, at least for the time being, as he revealed in his pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon.

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Leeds Rhinos coach reveals worsened half-back crisis as fresh injury doubts detailed

Croft’s usual half-back partner Matt Frawley suffered a pretty nasty gash to his hand during the win at Salford, being forced off but returning to the field soon after and completing the game.

Whether he’ll be available for Sunday remains to be seen, and the same can be said for Jack Sinfield, who hasn’t featured since suffering heavy bruising to his foot during Leeds’ Challenge Cup win against Wests Warriors at the start of this month.

Arthur detailed: “We’re probably not going to know (who will play in the halves) until our final session on Saturday.

“I don’t know if Frawls (Matt Frawley) is going to be right.

“He’s got eight or nine stitches in his hand, and we’ve made him a bit of a guard for it, but it’s just in a tricky spot where it is.

“We didn’t train him today, and we’ll just have to see how he is on Saturday.

“As long as he’s comfortable that he’ll do his job, he’ll play, but we just won’t know until then. He just needs to make sure he can function and do his job properly.

“We’ve got Jack (Sinfield) there who’s close to returning, but we’ve had Morgan Gannon doing a bit there in training today.

“We’re all over the shop, to tell you the truth. We’ll know more on Saturday.

“We’ll have to see how Frawls is, and how Sinny pulls up after doing a bit of running today.”

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Arthur issues update on injured co-captain Cameron Smith

As had already been confirmed, Leeds will also be without co-captain Cameron Smith for the next couple of months.

He will have surgery on Tuesday after suffering a syndesmosis injury to his ankle in last week’s victory at Salford.

Arthur said: “As a club and a team, it’s disappointing for us, but it’s probably more disappointing for Cameron.

“We’re fortunate that we’ve got a bit of depth there, but he’s worked really hard in pre-season and was looking forward to starting to strike up some combinations.

“He’s just going to have to put it on ice for ten weeks, wait and do a lot of work in the gym to get himself right for when he returns.”

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