On Boxing Day, Leeds Rhinos will begin their preparations for the 2022 season with a festive friendly against Wakefield Trinity.
With plenty of supporters believing that 2022 could see the Rhinos return to the Super League summit after four years away. With some exciting signings likely to debut, it’ll be a big event for Richard Agar’s side as they aim to build towards a big campaign.
Unlike last season, Leeds have yet to have be hit by too many injuries this off-season. Jack Walker has torn his hamstring whilst Liam Sutcliffe is still recovering from the injury that ended his 2021 season prematurely but Leeds are considered to have a relatively clean bill of health otherwise, leaving Agar with some interesting selection headaches going into the friendly as he tries to settle on his best 17.
Speaking to the press today, Agar said: “We’re going to release the 22 on Monday.
“We’re running with as strong as a starting team as we can and every fit and available player that hasn’t got any little bumps.
“Matt Prior wont play, given what we want to do with him in pre-season, having a game for him won’t be too beneficial. We won’t consider him for selection.”
Despite not wanting to risk skipper Matt Prior, Agar stressed the importance of the game in Leeds’ preparations going into the new season. However, he was also keen to point out how he expects his side to still be a long way off where they need to be for Round One.
“We want to use as this as a part of our pre season preparation and see how we go. We’re definitely not expecting where we need to be come Round One considering what we haven’t done. I want the new signings and younger guys to experience what a home game at Headingley is like.
“We’re in week four or five, I don’t think we will look anything like we need to look but it will give us an indication of where we need to work a little bit harder. From a cohesion and structure point of view it will give you some ideas, but at the same time we can use it wisely to get a really good hit out.”
Leeds will begin the new season at home against rivals Warrington in the first game on Channel 4 on Saturday 12th February. The game will see Blake Austin take on his former side alongside his former Canberra teammate and good friend Aidan Sezer in the halves.
Speaking about the pair, Agar said: “It’s early days but they’ve played together before and got that relationship and the understanding and dialogue which makes it a lot easier.”
Meanwhile, he also gave an update regarding where the Rhinos are in terms of the vaccine: “All our guys are looking to get the booster on Tuesday.
“We’ve asked players to be as vigilant as they can be leading into the game. I don’t know if we will have an issue free season, there are some pretty doom and gloom scenarios whenever you switch the tv on. You will anticipate the next 2,3,4 weeks will be a bit of a test.”
Leeds fans will be hoping that the pandemic doesn’t get in the way of seeing their new halfback pairing line-up alongside each other but they’re just two of four exciting signings the Rhinos have brought in for 2022 including James Bentley who is expected to feature whilst David Fusitu’a has an outside chance of playing.
Some expected Leeds to add a fifth signing following the departure of Challenge Cup Final winning half Luke Gale, but Agar stated that there are no immediate plans to do so with the focus being on retention: “We’d factored Luke [Gale] in this year and it all happened really quickly.
“People like Harry Newman and Mikolja Oledzki are some of the most sought after people in rugby league and we had to give them better contracts. We’ve got a number of young players who will want improved contracts and its right we go back and reward those players. Value is subjective anyway, what I value may be different to a coach of a union club or NRL club.”
He also noted the importance of developing youngsters whilst revealing he expects a fully fit squad next month: “Come January we will have a fully fit squad training, I’m pretty happy with where our squad is at. In six months time we might feel we need to strengthen but I don’t want to block the path of some of our guys who are breaking through to first grade like Tom Holroyd, Morgan Gannon. I would rather make sure they get more game time and become genuine first graders like we know we can be.”
