After losing for the third time this season, Leeds Rhinos face the tough challenge of hosting the unbeaten Catalans Dragons on Saturday.
As Rohan Smith looks to get the Rhinos back to the winners’ circle, he answered the question of what changes he has thought about making for the game as he revealed that the Rhinos have been dealing with illness.
He said: “Not a great deal really. We have a couple of guys that didn’t play that are there or there abouts in our squad. We will see.
“We’ve had a bit of illness in the camp and there’s a few bumps and bruises we’re still getting over.
“We will know more tomorrow, then on Thursday and then we will lock a team in for Saturday.”
This week it has been confirmed that Mikolaj Oledzki is back in training but he won’t play:
“Not this week no. He could be the week after or the one after that.
“It is what it is, the chose to play for England and in that period his shoulder got worse because he put things worse but he needed the surgery and we knew he would miss the start of the season.
“He is flying in training, just needs to get some team training and we need to check that off.”
He also gave an update on Harry Newman:
“We see how he gets through, he has trained well today.
“He is very fit, he has done a lot of work.
“It’s just a graduated process just as you would in pre-season, you stagger your game time.”
“We have done our best to make a logical and scientific based process to give him the best chance to perform short term and long term.
“We haven’t had a discussion about the plan for this week. As we get closer we will make a decision. If fit and able, he may play 80.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Gannon won’t feature after a head injury in Round Two:
“No he won’t be this week. He saw a specialist last week and he needs to go back to check up.
“He hasn’t had any symptoms or issues and given his age we are being cautious especially because of the recommendations.
In terms of wanting to change the performance after defeat against Castleford, Smith joked:
“Play the ball at the end of your carry. We were in a good enough position, without playing great, to come home strong and we didn’t give ourselves the chance.
“It happens to every team especially on a muddy, wet and slippery night.”
