Pack leader Mikolaj Oledzki’s one-game ban has delayed a tough decision for Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur.
Arthur today (Tuesday) confirmed Oledzki will be replaced in Rhinos’ 17 to face Huddersfield Giants at AMT Headingley on Friday by recruit Kallum Watkins, who rejoined Leeds from Salford Red Devils last week.
Watkins will make his second debut for Leeds 17 years to the day after his first, in a home Challenge Cup win against Celtic Crusaders on April 18, 2008.
Oledzki was handed a one-match ban after the RFL’s match review panel charged him with grade C head contact following his yellow card in last Thursday’s 28-0 win at Salford.
“I have been really happy with the way Mik has been playing,” Arthur admitted. “He has been playing really well for us each week and fronting up and getting us off to good starts, but it provides someone else with an opportunity. That’s how we’ve looked at it.
“I can joke about it – it has made my decision easier not to have to worry about having a tough conversation with one of the boys. No one really deserves to miss out on the team this week, so I suppose it gets put off for a week.”
Leeds Rhinos boss confirms different role for Kallum Watkins
Credit: John Clifton/SWpix.com
Rhinos have accepted Oledzki’s suspension for grade C head contact. Keenan Palasia avoided an immediate ban for a similar offence which was graded B by the match review panel.
It was Palasia’s second sin-binning in successive games and Arthur insisted there was “no malice or deliberate intent from Mik or Keenan”. He stressed: “I feel a bit sorry for those big guys, when they’ve got the smaller guys running at them.
“We’ve worked really hard as a group on lowering our target area and we’ve got to continue to do that.”
Arthur confirmed Watkins will be among Rhinos’ substitutes for the Easter fixture. “I don’t want to apply too much pressure to him early in the piece,” he said of the former England man, who left Leeds in 2019.
“He will start off the bench and we’ll put him on. I just want to see him get a feel for how we play and what we are trying to do around where we want to play our field position.
“We’ll give him a couple of roles to play in that; he will play a bit in the middle for us and try to get some short interchange of passing going.
“Outside of that, as long as he carries strong and works hard in defence and starts to ease himself into our systems, on the back of how he trained today, I feel like he will get in there nice and smoothly, pretty quickly, I reckon.”
Arthur said Watkins, now playing in the pack, has already made an impact on the group. “You can feel his presence,” he added. “He hasn’t said a great deal yet, but I am sure [he will] once he gets comfortable in the environment. You can see his presence and the respect levels from the players.”
Leeds Rhinos prop Mikolaj Oledzki will miss the Rivals Round clash with Huddersfield Giants on Good Friday at AMT Headingley after receiving a one match ban from the match review panel. pic.twitter.com/RqL5zgrnyN
— Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) April 14, 2025
