The Grand Final team news is in and there was more than one surprise.
St Helens named Will Hopoate but did so on the wing rather than at fullback or at centre as many expected with Jon Bennison remaining at fullback. Don’t be surprised to see Hopoate and Bennison swap however.
Meanwhile, Leeds had Ash Handley back from injury to start on the wing in place of young Liam Tindall whilst Rohan Smith surprised a few naming forward Cameron Smith in the halves in place of the injured Aidan Sezer.
Smith has played one game in the halves in 2022 which came in a brilliant win over Wigan at Headingley in what could be described as Leeds’ best performance of the season.
When explaining this somewhat surprising decision on teh Rhinos Twitter, Leeds boss Rohan Smith said: “Cam has done a great job for us and he’s a genuine footy player so I think he’ll slot in there nicely and we can play the same way.”
Many expected Richie Myler to move into the halves and Zak Hardaker to fullback, but Smith has kept Myler at fullback and Hardaker at centre and in doing so hasn’t had to move people around: “They’ve been doing so well there so we don’t have to shuffle things around at the start of the game.”
In a boost for Leeds, Rhyse Martin returns from a two-match ban and Smith is glad to have him back: “Rhyse has been such a great bloke around the group the last two weeks. He’s a great team player and it’s great to have him back.”
We caught up with Head Coach Rohan Smith before tonight’s game to get the lowdown on his team selection
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Martin needs one goal to set a new Super League record for consecutive conversions without missing.
Six would see him set a new world record.
