Leeds Rhinos injury blow confirmed as forward set for lengthy lay-off

Leeds Rhinos forward Morgan Gannon will be sidelined until August, coach Brad Arthur has revealed.

Gannon suffered an ankle injury during Rhinos’ defeat at St Helens last week and will miss five games, starting with tomorrow’s (Friday) crunch home clash against St Helens.

That timescale would see him return for Rhinos’ game at Leigh on Thursday, August 7.

It was initially feared Gannon, who will leave Rhinos to join New Zealand Warriors at the end of this season, had sustained a fractured shin.

Leeds Rhinos boss on Morgan Gannon injury

Speaking at his preview press conference today, Arthur confirmed: “It’s a syndesmosis. We’ve got five more matches and then a week off and he will be back after that.

“He had a lot of shin soreness and it didn’t really present like a syndesmosis. At one stage I thought he maybe had a small fracture in his shin, but that’s the way it has worked out.

“He doesn’t need an op’, we can rehab it. He is in a boot for a couple of weeks and he’ll be right in six or seven. It’ll be five games he misses.”

Arthur admitted Gannon’s layoff is a setback, but insisted: “It’s very hard to go through your season and not get injuries.

“It presents an opportunity for other guys. We’ve always focused on that. Injuries hurt the team, but they are more of a disappointment for the individual.

“He was playing some good footy, now he gets some rehab and he will be all right – he will be the fresh one on the scene at the back end of the year for us.”

Prop Cooper Jenkins will come back into the 17 against Leigh after being left out of the last two games, Arthur revealed.

“We’ll move things around,” he added. “Cooper did a really good job for us over the last couple of weeks in reserve grade and got some good minutes, so it has come at a good time for him.”