Daryl Powell labels Leeds Rhinos “big favourites” and makes selection admission ahead of Challenge Cup tie

Wakefield Trinity boss Daryl Powell is “pretty confident” that Leeds Rhinos star Brodie Croft won’t feature in this week’s Challenge Cup tie.

Rhinos half-back Croft missed last week’s game against Castleford Tigers with a hamstring issue that he picked up in Las Vegas.

Despite being in little to no pain, Croft and the Leeds medical team are taking extra precaution to try not to aggravate the injury, especially with it being so early in the season.

Powell, who is a former Leeds player and coach, believes that the playmaker will again be missing this week, though his side are prepared for both outcomes.

George Brown featured in his place on Sunday afternoon and opened the scoring. The youngster provided a quality kicking game and had some solid defensive moments too, in what was only his second Super League appearance.

“We’re ready for both eventualities [Croft or Brown], but I’m pretty sure Croft won’t play. If he does, he does, but I’m expecting Brown to play.

“We’re aware of both players, they’ve got some similarities in their game.”

On tonight’s opponents as a whole, Powell said: “Leeds have fit the ground absolutely flying. They’ll be pretty big favourites for the game, I would say…

“They’ve been good, they look sharp. [Jake] Connor looks great. [Lachie] Miller at the back, the pack has been pretty physical and robust, they’re good.

“They rightly feel pretty confident in themselves and what they’re doing, and our job is to go and dismantle that a little bit.”

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Wakefield Trinity hoping to end Leeds Rhinos wingers’ try-scoring run

Leeds currently have the Super League’s Player of the Month, Maika Sivo, in their side, a man who is on red hot form, scoring nine tries in the last three games.

Wingers Ben Jones-Bishop, Tom Davies and Mikaele Ravalawa have all been unable to stop the Fijian flyer so far, so Powell knows his side will need to be at their best if they are to do so.

“You’ve got to put your body in front of him, I think that’s obviously important,” Powell said when asked how to stop the try-scoring machine.

“You’ve got to play smart, you’ve got to kick smart. They’ve got threats everywhere, really.

“I think he’s just jumping on the back of some unbelievable play from the rest of the team. He’s a big, powerful unit. You need to be good around both him and Ryan Hall.”