Leeds Rhinos assistant boss Jamie Langley has confirmed that one of his first-team players picked up a knock in the victory over Wakefield Trinity, whilst also giving an update on another senior man.
Alfie Edgell left the field after kicking off for the second half, with the full-back having discomfort in his quad. He was replaced by young winger Oscar Brown, with Harley Thomas, who played the full 80 minutes, switching to full-back.
Langley confirmed post-match that Edgell will have to go for a scan to determine the severity of the injury.
“We’ll have to see what the scan results produce with Alfie,” he revealed. “He’s felt something in his quad, essentially, when he was kicking the ball off. He’s a little bit down at the minute, you never know until you see the scans these days, and they’re that detailed in what they can reveal, he keeping his fingers crossed.
“He definitely felt something on the kick-off, so we’ll assess that over the next week or so and see where he’s at.”
Leeds were also dealt a blow as Chris Hankinson was forced off the field around 10 minutes later, with the versatile ex-Salford man needing to leave the field to deal with an injury to his finger.
The 32-year-old is more known for playing in the back line, but was used in the halves, something that looks to be a consistent move going forward.
He said: “He’s just had a dislocated finger that they just couldn’t quite get back in. You know if you’ve had one, they are a bit tricky. It’s not the pain, it’s just the fact that you can’t get it back in there on the field.
“We were going to change him around that time anyway. We were due to change Chris around 50-55 minutes. That was the plan. It was just unfortunate that it happened that way, but he’s absolutely fine.”
Leeds Rhinos coach compares young prospect to rugby league legend
Many young stars were on show in the game, with George Brown taking the headlines with a Player of the Match display. Back-rower Ben Littlewood was subject to praise from assistant boss Langley, who even went as far to compare him to a Leeds Rhinos legend.
He said: “Ben is a great kid. He’s really unassuming, very quiet and he just goes about his business. You almost forget he’s there sometimes. For such a big presence, he goes under the radar a bit, but he doesn’t do much wrong.
“He’s really intelligent, a high IQ, he can cover middle and back row for us… he reminds me of Jamie Peacock. He is all elbows and knees and a tough bloke to tackle and all the lads will say that in training. I think he’s got a big future ahead of him.
Littlewood has played three senior games for Leeds so far, with his debut coming against Leigh Leopards, the fixture that honoured the life of Leeds legend Rob Burrow. He went on loan to Salford Red Devils for one game this year, appearing in their 80-6 defeat to Hull FC.
