Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur has revealed a surprise answer to their full-back crisis…
Man of Steel contender Lachie Miller won’t play again this season after suffering a hamstring injury during last Saturday’s 40-8 mauling by Wigan Warriors. He does not need surgery, but will be on the casualty list for 10-12 weeks.
Arthur initially suggested 20-year-old Fergus McCormack, who made three Super League appearances earlier this year when Miller was suspended, would come into the team against Hull FC on Friday as the last line of defence.
But speaking at his preview press conference today (Wednesday), Arthur announced a new plan, with the team captain switching from centre to fill the gap.
“Ash Handley is going to play full-back,” he confirmed. “The backline we want to put out in the semi-final, we need to run with this week.
“We need to back the decision. I’ve consulted a lot of the senior players, and they’re happy with that.
“Ash had to be happy with that to start with and think that was the best for the team and also for him to make that positional switch and be comfortable he could do the job.”
Arthur admitted: “This week there might be a few teething problems with it, but the beauty is we’ve got a full 21-day window [from last week] to get it right. Whatever flaws or teething problems we have this week, we’ve got another five or six sessions leading into the next game to iron it out.”
Ash Handley set for shock Leeds Rhinos full-back switch
Moving Handley to full-back solves the problem of how to fit him, Ryan Hall, Harry Newman, Jack Bird and returning winger Maika Sivo into the same team.
Arthur stressed: “It’s not a reflection of young Fergus because we are more than confident he could have done the job.
“But we have got a lot of experienced players in our team and at some stage someone would have to miss out in that backline.
“This is getting all our best players out there, our most experienced and putting them in the one-seven jerseys.
“Young Fergus has only had three games and not a lot of big game experience. We’re going to need that big-game experience in the finals.
“He understands and I’ve explained to him the reasoning why. He’s a really good kid and he accepted it.
“He just knows at this stage of the season it’s best for the team this way. If it was round 20 I might have seven games to get more time and experience into him to get him ready for those big occasions, but the only thing that matters right now is winning and giving us every opportunity to get as deep as we can into the competition.”
Second-rower James McDonnell was due to return from a pectoral muscle problem last week, but was ruled out late on and isn’t in the 21-man squad for Friday.
Arthur said: “He’s around 70-80 per cent now. From [last week] to the semi-final is an extra 21 days, so why wouldn’t we give him that 21 days and get him closer to 100 per cent?”
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