Richard Agar “would like another middle” but keen to give youth a chance

Drew Darbyshire

Leeds coach Richard Agar says he would like to bring in another middle but is happy to give the club’s youth a chance to shine.

The Rhinos have signed New Zealand prop Zane Tetevano on a three-year deal but Ava Seumnaufagai departed the club to Australia for family reasons because of the pandemic.

The number 19 in Leeds’ squad numbers has been left vacant which hints at a potential signing, and Agar has revealed he would like to bring in another prop to Headingley but is more than willing to trust the club’s exciting crop of youngsters.

He said: “We’d love another middle at this point in time, losing Ava (Seumanufagai) came pretty late for us.

“We expected that Ava was going to be around but with Ava leaving, we would like to get another middle in there but at the same time I don’t want to block the development of some of these terrific young talents.

“Alex Sutcliffe is certainly challenging and poking his way through now, Sam Walters and Jarrod O’Connor are two guys we feel are developing over time and while we would like to bring another big body in, I still think numbers-wise we are alright for middles.

“I’d still like us to have another big body in there but I’m quite prepared to say from where we was last year to this moment in time – we are happy to create opportunities for some of our younger guys.”

Tetevano will link up with his new club for pre-season training once his work visa has been approved.

Agar said: “We are just going through the process in terms of his work visa, so we are still waiting for that.

“It is usually a three or four week turnaround on those so fingers crossed. We’ve been in contact with Zane about training programmes, getting him fixed up and getting organised to come over but we are all good on that one. He is match fit and raring to go.”

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