Star stand-off Brodie Croft, England prop Mikolaj Oledzki and Dream Team second-rower James McDonnell are all “close” to returning from injury, coach Brad Arthur has revealed.
Oledzki (ribs) and McDonnell (back) were unused members of Rhinos squad for last Sunday’s 22-4 home defeat of Castleford Tigers.
Croft wasn’t in that 21 after suffering a hamstring issue during Leeds’ Las Vegas win against Hull KR the previous week.
The short turnaround means Rhinos will have only one training session this week. Speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Wednesday), Arthur said: “There’s a good chance of Macca, Mik and Crofty being right.
“We just have to see how they get through today and how they pull up, but they are all close and keen to play.”
Oledzki has not featured since being injured during Leeds Rhinos’ Challenge Cup third round win at Widnes Vikings on February 7.
“He worked really hard in pre-season, then got busted in the first Challenge Cup game,” Arthur said.
“He has missed the first four weeks and missed the opportunity to play in Vegas so it would be good for him to get back out on the field. If he does play it will be a shortened stint off the bench, but he is keen to get back out there.”
Of McDonnell and Croft, the coach added: “We just have to make sure they get through training all right and then they recover well. Probably tomorrow we will know more about how they pull up.”
Former State of Origin centre Jack Bird, who joined Leeds three weeks ago from Wests Tigers, retains his place in the 21, but is unlikely to make his debut this week.
He was 18th man against Tigers after McDonnell was ruled out and Arthur said: “He is getting close, but because of the limited training we’ve done it is hard to put him out there until I know he is comfortable in our system and is ready physically.
“He hasn’t done a lot with the team and next week is probably a better intro into the team, having three training days. We’ve not done much training in the last fortnight.”
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