Leeds Rhinos star set for extended spell on sidelines as Brad Arthur teases potential debut

Leeds Rhinos could be without young outside back Alfie Edgell for as long as eight weeks with a foot injury, as new recruit Chris Hankinson gears up to make his debut.

Versatile back Hankinson only joined the Rhinos this week from Salford Red Devils, but could come straight into the Rhinos starting 13, with Arthur also revealing experienced winger Ryan Hall is also nursing a knock.

Edgell has had to be patient for minutes this season, but recently broke back into the starting side with a run of five consecutive starts, scoring three tries in the process. He has a total of eight appearances to his name this season.

‘He’s got very bad bone bruising’

The winger was taken off part-way through Leeds’ dramatic 15-14 defeat to Wakefield Trinity last week, and Arthur has now confirmed he is set for an extended spell on the sidelines.

“The good thing about it is there’s no fracture, but he’s got very bad bone bruising. Alfie’s a tough kid, you saw him stay out for as long as he could the other night, as he did it early in the first-half, but it just got worse and worse and those injuries can turn into stress fractures and big injuries.

“He still can’t put a heap of weight on it; it could be anywhere from four to eight weeks. It’s one of those ones that could turn into a stress fracture. That’s one of the reasons we’ve looked to add a bit more depth.”

The injury to Edgell has now shed more light on the decision to sign Hankinson from the struggling Red Devils, with Arthur confirming there is a chance he could make his debut this weekend against Leigh Leopards.

“Yeah, there’s a chance. With Alfie going down, Micah (Sivo) out, and Ryan (Hall) has a couple of things that we’re just looking after, we just wanted to make sure we had enough depth for the rest of the year and make those adjustments now rather than panicking.

He added: “We’ve not had Max Simpson and Ned McCormack play much footie, so if we get another injury there, we’d have to move a forward out into the back, which isn’t fair.”

Edgell now joins a growing list of injury concerns at Headingley, alongside front-row forwards Mikolaj Oledzki, Tom Holroyd and Tom Nicholson-Watton.

Elsewhere, co-captain Cameron Smith is also still struggling with a back issue, and Arthur confirmed that despite him being named in the initial 21-man squad to face the Leopards tomorrow night, he will not feature in the match-day 17.

“Cameron Smith was having some issues with his back. We thought a couple of weeks off would help, and it did help, but he’s not quite ready yet. He won’t play this weekend.”

But, there is some good news on the injury front for Leeds, with Morgan Gannon set to return to the field after overcoming a bout of syndesmosis

“It’s good,” Arthur said of Gannon’s return. “He got through Monday’s session really well, and he’s keen to get out there. Those syndesmosis injuries are tough, but he ran well on Monday and trained well today as well.”

Elsewhere, Andy Ackers seems primed to return to the 17 as well, after missing the defeat to Wakefield Trinity through injury.

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