Leeds Rhinos have crossed two long-term casualties off their injury list, but a forward is facing a spell on the sidelines.
Rhinos are expected to be unchanged for Sunday’s Magic Weekend derby against Bradford Bulls at Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium, but boss Brad Arthur has virtually a full-strength squad to choose from with full-back/winger Alfie Edgell and forward Ben Littlewood now back to fitness.
Edgell has not played since suffering a thigh injury in a pre-season game against Wakefield Trinity six months ago
Littlewood made two substitute appearances early in the campaign – including the defeat of Hull KR in Las Vegas – and was later loaned to York Knights, playing three times before suffering a broken hand at the start of May.
“Where we sit at the moment we are pretty healthy, which is a good thing,” Arthur – whose side beat Hull KR 34-8 last weekend – said.
“We’ve got Alfie Edgell and Ben Littlewood who have come back into the fold.
“We have still got three sessions to get through, but touch wood we are in a good place.
“The staff have done a really good job getting the boys ready and the boys have done a really good job working on their physicality to make sure they stay healthy.”
Leeds Rhinos boss confirms Ethan O’Neill injury
One player unavailable this weekend is back-rower Ethan O’Neill who has returned to Rhinos for treatment after being injured playing on loan for Hull FC.
Arthur said: “He has got a hamstring injury, he’ll be a couple of weeks.”
Prop/loose-forward Presley Cassell limped out of Rhinos’ reserves game against Wigan Warriors last Friday and Arthur revealed: “He just had a bump to the knee, it was more precautionary, him coming off. He is fine.”
The coach also confirmed Man of Steel Jake Connor is fit and available for Sunday despite being replaced near the end of last week’s game following treatment on the field.
“He will be fine,” the coach insisted. “He does a lot of work on his kicking so his loads have been quite high.
“He got a few bumps, he was a bit busted going into the game and we got in a position with about 10 minutes to go of having the luxury [of being able to take him off].
“We’ve got Chank [Chris Hankinson] in the team who can cover any position.
“It wasn’t anything to do with disrespect to the opposition, just Jake has been important for us and the result was sort of locked away so we needed to worry about next week.”
