Richard Agar gives injury update and honest review on departing halfback

It’s been well-documented that Leeds have suffered from injuries in 2021, but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel for Richard Agar’s men, especially as skipper Luke Gale will be welcomed back this weekend.

“It’s pretty obvious one of the elements of our game we’ve struggled with – and has been a bit of a consequence to where we are at the moment – is an inability to have a stable line-up and halfbacks playing in halfback roles,” Agar said.

“Galey’s a welcome return; he’s our captain and kicks the ball and touches the ball more than any other player we’ve got so his influence back in the team has been immediate.

“It’s given some people some confidence. He keeps it nice and simple but at the same time it’s been a very, very tricky situation for us.

“It’s been one forced upon – us changing our halves every week and having people playing out of position, some square pegs in round holes for a number of weeks.”

With Gale returning, Agar will also welcome back the likes of Harry Newman and Rob Lui in the next month.

“We get Zane (Tetevano) and Richie (Myler) back next week from suspension which will help us.

“Cameron Smith is coming in to week five of what will be eight weeks and Harry Newman is getting closer and closer.

“He’s trained a few times with the team this week, but you can still see there is a bit of a limp there.

“Condition and body wise though, he’s got more powerful in the time he’s been off – his movement and speed are actually in front of where they were before he was injured, so we’ve earmarked the St Helens game for him.

“Rob Lui is potentially three-four weeks, but Tom Holroyd is getting close too.

“It’s a shame because we had him earmarked for a spot in our 17 in round one as he’d had massive pre-season, but he’s in good shape.”

Despite the news that Lui will be leaving Leeds at the end of 2021 took a lot of fans by surprise, for Agar, he had known it was coming.

“We knew this pre-season; Rob is coming to the end of his career and physically is the biggest challenge for Rob with his injury.

“At the start of the year Rob talked about this being his last year and that wanted to go out on a high.

“When he got injured, we had a talk with him about whether he had the desire and fire burning to rehabilitate himself from a lengthy injury and the answer was a resounding yes.

“He’s training really hard and he wants to go out on his terms and we’ve been preparing for it a long time.”

Agar could not speak highly enough of the way the halfback came in and lifted the place.

“We were in a really difficult spot when we signed Rob with relegation being a distinct possibility for that team.

“He had an immediate impact on the field and as a guy, a senior player and a great teammate, he just brought positivity around the place.

“In the circumstances at the time and the past year, he’s given such a lot for the club.”