Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur has revealed some selection decisions ahead of the club’s final two pre-season friendlies as well as the Third Round game in the Challenge Cup.
Leeds, who have already had a warm-up fixture against Wakefield Trinity, have two more fixtures lined up before the competitive action begins in the knockout competition on the first weekend of February.
They will first travel to Castleford Tigers for Brad Singleton’s testimonial, before they return home to face Bradford Bulls in Cameron Smith’s testimonial.
For those upcoming matches, Arthur has dropped selection hints as to how each side he puts out will look.
Starting with this week’s game, Leeds, who will be coached by Chev Walker on Sunday, will send a squad full of reserve and youth players to Wheldon Road.
Confirming that decision in a press conference at the club’s media day, Arthur said: “Jerry [Jeremiah Mata’utia]’s going to play and get some minutes out there on Sunday with Tom Nicholson-Watton and Ben Littlewood.
“Outside of that, the rest will be just the kids… It’s a lot of our part-time players and as far as I know, I think Castleford are doing the same.
“Any of the 21 or 22 that’s playing against Bradford won’t be playing [against Castleford].”
On Mata’utia, Arthur was impressed with what he saw from his new recruit against Wakefield Trinity, but he needs to work on a few more things if he is to become a first team regular.
He added: “He’s done a really good job for us on Boxing Day game, he was really good with the ball. He’s just got some things defensively that he’s just got to continue to work at and fit in with our systems.
“He’s a project for us, the same as Cooper [Jenkins] when he first came over. We’ve seen him get better and better, and I’m sure Jerry’s going to be the same.”
Brad Arthur makes Leeds Rhinos selection decisions ahead of Bradford Bulls friendly
For the final pre-season game, Leeds will be much stronger, and the majority of their senior and international players will all come back into the side as they get one hit out before the season properly begins.
The likes of Kallum Watkins and Mikolaj Oledzki will feature for around 40 minutes, according to the boss, whilst Harry Newman and Ash Handley, both of whom are coming back from surgery, will also get a run out.
Halves pairing Brodie Croft and Jake Connor will play “60-70 minutes” before the boss brings on youth players to see out the contest.
Leeds will also be going strong in the Challenge Cup, and regardless of whether they play Thatto Heath Crusaders or Widnes Vikings, the 17 named on that day will be the best possible one that Arthur can put out.
Should Widnes get through, Leeds will travel to the Vikings, who play on a 4G pitch. Whilst part of Leeds’ training facility at Kirkstall is astroturf, it will still be a challenge as an opposition. However, Arthur is not using that as an excuse.
He said:Â “I’ll be putting out our best side available, and I don’t care if anyone wants to tell me about the surface.
“I don’t care about the surface, we’ll go and play on a gravel road if we have to. That’s just what it is. We will deal with it, but that’s a couple of weeks away.”
Re-affirming Leeds’ silverware ambitions, he added: “We need to have an attitude where we want to win everything, and have no excuses and we need to treat the competition with the respect it deserves.
“There might be some smart choices that we have to make on a couple of players, but overall we will be going with our best side possible.”
