Agar mulling over bench selections for semi-final

Leeds Rhinos head coach Richard Agar says he’s all but decided on the 17 players he will pick to take on Wigan in Saturday’s Challenge Cup semi-final, but is still undecided on who will come off the bench.

The Rhinos have close to a full complement to choose from, having welcomed back several stars from injury, suspension and self-isolation within the past week.

Most of the squad were rested for the club’s mid-week clash against Catalans but Agar says that while he’s likely to stick with his regular line-up on Saturday, some of the standout performers from that game have played their way into contention.

“It’s fair to say our team might not change around too much,” said Agar. “The make-up of our bench (might do).

“We wanted to get Jack Walker through a game on Wednesday night and he came through well enough that we knew at halftime we’d seen enough to stick him in contention for this game.

“We wanted to see a little bit more out of Cuthbo (Adam Cuthbertson), who’s had a bit of a punctured run-in to this game with the birth of his baby and a bit of an injury and again we thought Cuthbo did enough to put himself in the frame.

“And then we’ve got a couple of guys coming back. Cam Smith from a broken jaw, Brad Dwyer from Covid. Alex Sutcliffe played well back from his suspension. So we’ve got 19 guys to choose from for our 17.

“The weather forecast is a pretty grim one for Saturday, so we’ve taken that into account in the way we’ve trained this week and perhaps we might take it into account in the team we select.

“So we’ve got a couple of little quandaries in there.”

Their opponents are likely to have a strong squad too, with only a small handful of senior players missing, including experienced forwards George Burgess and Tony Clubb.

And Agar was quick to point out the numerous threats the Warriors pose but insists his side will be prepared for whatever is thrown at them.

“They’re a really good team with some of the best players in the competition in their side,” he added. “Sean O’Loughlin brings another dimension to them, particularly when they’re playing out of their own half. When they played Hull, the more structured ball movement plays come about through Sean.

“The different points of attack, they bring through Jackson (Hastings) and Thomas Leuluai, and a player who’s probably been the most exciting individual in the competition in Bevan French.

“He’s one of those guys that as a supporter you would pay to go in the stadium and watch some of the stuff he does.

“Liam Farrell is a tremendous player for them as his performances and the statistics will show, and I think they’ve got a couple of real unsung heroes in there too. Sam Powell and Willie Isa are really underrated players in the mechanics of what Wigan do.

“So we’ve prepared for them, we’re very aware of the threats and we’re very aware that we’re going to have to get our best performance out on the day to get this one. They’re a strong and consistent team.”