One of the biggest changes to Leeds Rhinos’ squad for Round Three and their trip to Champions St Helens has been the return of James Bentley from injury which is timely given the loss of Morgan Gannon to a head knock.
Speaking today, Rohan Smith gave an update on young Gannon:
“He had no symptoms after the game, he felt fine. To my knowledge there’s no symptoms or issues. It’s disappointing for him to not get the opportunity to have some rhythm and consistency, but it’s the nature of our sport that people will get bumps of all different kinds at various stages. It’s inevitable that people will miss games here and there.”
In terms of the chances of seeing Bentley against his former club and what he will bring, Smith said: “He’s close, he’s training really well but we’ll see how he gets though today’s session and then make a final call to see if he plays a role on Friday.
“People have seen James play enough, he’s got great energy, good footy instincts and he’s a tough competitor. He’s everything that we want to be distributing as a team, if he’s available that’s good and if not he’ll be closer for next week. We just want James to be himself and be the natural competitor that he is.”
Smith also weighed in on if there is extra motivation for Bentley against Saints: “I don’t think so, he plays at the same intensity pretty much every week. I think James crosses the line and he’s there to win. He’d have fond memories of playing over there but both times we played against them last time he played hard but played well too.”