Leeds Rhinos have two new injury concerns ahead of Friday’s huge game at St Helens, but five first team players are close to returning.
Man of Steel Jake Connor is Rhinos’ biggest worry following yesterday’s (Sunday) 66-16 win at York Knights, but substitute Cameron Smith also failed to finish the game.
Scrum-half Connor was involved in six of Leeds’ 12 tries before limping out of the action midway through the final quarter.
Coach Brad Arthur reported: “I’m not a doctor, but we’re hoping it’s just tightness. He was tightening in his calf and glute early so we just took the precaution of taking him off.
“He’s not sure so we’ll just have to just wait and see. Hopefully, we think he’s okay.”
Connor converted Leeds’ first four touchdowns, but then handed kicking duties to Chris Hankinson and Arthur added: “You could see early in the game he was grabbing at his glute, he was just tightening up so that’s why he stopped the kicking. The calf was separate.”
Smith came on as a 23rd minute substitute, but didn’t feature in the second half. Leeds were 36-0 ahead at half-time and Arthur explained: “He had a tight quad so there was no need to risk him.”
The coach confirmed centre Jack Bird will be available on Friday following a one-match concussion lay-off and hooker Danny Levi, who has missed five games because of a neck injury, is “very close” to making his comeback.
Three more players are aiming to return for the home clash with Wigan Warriors, which could be a league leaders’ shield decider, a week on Saturday.
Arthur said: “Keenan [Palasia], Macca [James McDonnell] and Maika [Sivo] are pretty keen to get themselves ready for Wigan, so we’ll just have to see where we’re at.”
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Knights 16 – 66 Rhinos pic.twitter.com/hiFWHVBGNR— Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) August 23, 2026
