Leeds Rhinos have suffered another major injury blow as they prepare for the arrival of Rohan Smith next week.
Tom Briscoe limped off the field for the Rhinos in their victory over Toulouse Olympique and interim coach Jamie Jones-Buchanan has revealed the prognosis on both the winger and Liam Sutcliffe.
“We’re delving into the 17-year-olds that’s where we are at,” Jones-Buchanan said.
“When you look at some of the people that are injured: Tom Briscoe, Liam Sutcliffe, David Fusitu’a, Harry Newman, Aidan Sezer, Richie Myler, Tom Holroyd, Jack Walker, Corey Johnson, Zak Hardaker and then a couple of suspended with Zane Tetevano and James Bentley.
“Tom has an op tomorrow but I would be surprised that it would be longer than eight weeks and Sutty has had a knee problem for a while and he needs to get it right.”
With Hardaker set for a period on the sidelines, Jones-Buchanan has a ready-made replacement already.
“Jack Broadbent has been preparing there really well.
“He’s been excellent – I put it on Jack a little bit these last couple of weeks and I’ve been asked a lot of questions about him.
“But I thought he was exceptional against Toulouse – when we looked at some of his numbers, statistically he was out of this world.”