Leeds Rhinos dealt major Morgan Gannon blow as prognosis confirmed and replacement named

Leeds Rhinos will be without Morgan Gannon for around the next six weeks after scans confirmed the forward has suffered a sydnesmosis injury.

Gannon left the field during last weekend’s defeat to St Helens and was later picture wearing a protective boot. There were fears he had fractured his shin initially but scans have now shown an injury to his ankle area.

That will leave Gannon on the sidelines for a prolonged period, with the forward not pencilled in for a return until after Leeds’ one-week break at the end of next month.

That lay-off was confirmed by Brad Arthur, who revealed: “It’s a syndesmosis and we’re probably looking at just after Round 20. We’ve got four more matches and then we have a week off, then he’ll be back after that. Around six weeks.

“He had a lot of shin soreness and it didn’t present like a syndesmosis and at one stage at half-time we thought he might have fractured his shin. But he doesn’t need an op, and it’ll be five games that he misses.”

Arthur admitted it was a blow to lose a player of Gannon’s calibre given how he has been back playing regularly in 2025.

He said: “It’s a blow but it’s very hard to go through your season and not get injuries. It just presents opportunities for other guys.

“Injuries hurt the team, but they’re more disappointing for the individual. He was playing some good footy and he’s strung 11 or 12 games together in a row. But he’ll be fresh at the back end of the season for us.”

And Arthur revealed on the eve of the Rhinos’ clash with Leigh that forward Cooper Jenkins, who has been 18th man in Leeds’ last two games and played for their reserves, will step in and replace Gannon.

“Cooper Jenkins will come back into the team,” Arthur revealed. “It’s about getting game-time into the guys and Cooper has done a good job for us in the reserve grade. ”

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