Recently Leeds have had to do it tough in terms of personnel.
The eight-time Super League Champions were down to 19 players going into their win over Hull KR last week and the suspensions to Zane Tetevano and James Bentley didn’t help their cause. Both forwards are due to be back for this weekend’s game against Salford, but the Rhinos have lost Matt Prior and Morgan Gannon to suspension balancing that out.
Fortunately, Leeds are expecting the likes of Liam Sutcliffe and Richie Myler back soon whilst Zak Hardaker has been cleared to play after his seizure the day his Leeds switch was confirmed.
But another boost for Leeds going into the next few weeks is the fact that Gannon’s ban may not be as long as some Leeds fans initially feared. Gannon was hit with a two-match suspension for touching an injured player in the win over Hull KR. He was cited for touching Lachlan Coote following his head clash with Kruise Leeming.
However, he will only miss one Super League game according to an RFL spokesperson when asked by Serious About Rugby League. This is because Gannon would have been eligible for the Under 18s game Leeds played over the last week meaning the highly rated backrow has already served one of his matches. This means that he will be back in time to play against Wakefield next week after the Rhinos have made the trip to Salford this Sunday.
Interestingly, the RFL also confirmed that reserves fixtures count when the first team do not play meaning that any reserve games which take place in weeks where the first team are not in action, perhaps due to being out of the cup as in Leeds’ case, one match of any suspension would be seen as having been served.