Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur will make a late decision on whether to give new Aussie signing Ethan Clark-Wood a debut in Super League round one this weekend.
The 24-year-old centre arrived in Leeds on Monday – just days after signing a one-year contract – and trained with Rhinos for the first time today (Wednesday).
He has been recruited as a replacement for winger Maika Sivo who will miss the entire 2025 campaign after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Ash Handley’s testimonial game last month.
Asked at his preview press conference today if Clark-Wood will feature in Saturday’s Super League opener at home to Wakefield Trinity, coach Arthur admitted: “I doubt it, but he trained all right and we’ll just see what happens when we get to Saturday.”
Clark-Wood is primarily a centre, but Arthur stressed his role for Leeds has yet to be decided.
Harry Newman and Ash Handley are first-choice centres for Leeds this season and 20-year-old Riley Lumb took Sivo’s place on the left-wing for last Saturday’s 92-0 hammering of Wests Warriors in the Challenge Cup.
“I need to spend a bit more time with him than one session before I can start to make opinions or judgements,” Arthur stated.
“What I do know is we’ve got two good centres there at the moment who are ready to go. Riley [Lumb] has done a good job for us on the wing and he’s ready to go, so all it’s doing is adding a bit more depth to our squad and a bit more competition for spots.”
The coach described his latest addition as “nice and fast”, but stressed: “Until we get him doing a bit more work at training…he only got off the plane a couple of days ago, we did a little bit of work with him today, but didn’t push him too hard. We’ll extend it over the next couple of days and see what happens moving forward.”
Leeds Rhinos approached Clark-Wood, who had been training with NRL side Gold Coast Titans, early last week.
“A couple of years ago I had an eye on him when I was back at home, just looking to give an opportunity to some young blokes,” Arthur – a former Parramatta Eels coach – revealed.
“It didn’t work out, for whatever reason, but when Maika went down we were on the look for someone who can play a few spots in the backline – wing, centre, full-back. He can cover a few of those.
“He’s young, he’s keen and he’s looking for an opportunity. He got here Monday, trained today and looked all right, so we’ll just wait and see now.”
