Leeds Rhinos star set to feature in Round One

Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith confirmed that Paul Momirovski will be ready to feature in Round One against Salford Red Devils.

The former Sydney Roosters and Penrith Panthers centre signed for Leeds for the 2024 season as a former NRL winner.

He has been in Australia however which is why he missed the friendly with Hull KR. However, Smith believes he is ready to feature in Round One.

But it is unlikely Kieran Hudson will as Smith takes it slow with another new signing with the former Castleford Tigers man recovering from injury:

“Yeah, it’s been a long, hard road for him back to full health. He’s only been in a full-time environment for a very short period of time at Cas and then he had a season-ending injury and then he’s been in rehab with us pretty much in and out of team training but not in full flight yet.

“So it’s been a long road for him. He’s a very committed kid, he works hard, he’s got a lot of improvement. Given his background, he hasn’t been full-time a lot so he’s got a lot of improvement in him. Carried the ball hard against some tough men there the other day at Hunslet. I thought he’s good at collision but we’ll build him up, he won’t be playing any time soon.”

Smith delighted with young Leeds Rhinos duo

Smith also heaped praise on Leeds duo Tom Nicholson-Watton and Leon Ruan: “Those kids train well all the time. Leon had an elbow injury and that was the first I think that was around 26, was it? And that was the first time he’d missed a session since he’d been here in 12 months or 14 months or something. So he’s done a great rehab and he’s shown that last week he did okay and today he’s done well. He’s done ahead of schedule on that rehab or on the underside of whatever the estimate was. He’s done really well.

“Tom, I’ve said this a few times, this time last year he’s not a big chance of playing much Super League but he’s just put his head down and he improved a lot last year and he continues to improve so he’s now likely to play plenty of Super League I would say and that’s a lesson in that for every player.”