Leeds boss Agar unhappy with England game that left him unable to field a team unless Salford clash was delayed

Leeds Rhinos Head Coach Richard Agar has spoken of his discontent with the scheduling of Friday’s mid-season International between England and the Combined Nations All Stars, saying that if his side’s Round 11 Super League meeting with Salford Red Devils hadn’t been delayed, he would have been left unable to field a team. 

Leeds had originally been scheduled to travel to the AJ Bell Stadium on Friday evening, at the same time as the International fixture was taking place, but earlier this week they were granted permission to push the game back to Sunday afternoon. That decision came about as on top of an already depleted squad due to a recent COVID outbreak at the Rhinos’ training ground, the club would have been missing a further five players for their trip to Salford due to their involvement in the aforementioned International game.

Luke Gale, Ash Handley and Mikolaj Oledzki are all in Shaun Wane’s England squad while Kruise Leeming and Matt Prior will line up in the opposition camp at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, but could all then be required to play again on Sunday in the re-scheduled club fixture. Boss Agar acknowledges the situation isn’t ideal but says that it’s necessary.

“People from outside our camp have probably been looking at us and saying, ‘did they need to postpone that game?’ but the long and short of it is that we just couldn’t get a team [if the game had taken place on Friday as originally thought]. We could not have fulfilled the fixture without withdrawing all of our players from the International game, and we didn’t want to do that.

“Our boys were really excited to go and play for England and the All Stars too, so we didn’t want to deny them that, but we could not have fielded a team had this fixture been on Friday night through what we feel is no fault of our own.

“We’ve got five in that game and we’re still three down with covid. [Jack] Walker, [Harry] Newman, Rob Lui and Callum McLelland are still injured. I worked out that had the game been on Friday, we’d have something like 16 missing so close to 50% of our squad and a sizeable chunk of the salary cap as well.

“We understand Salford’s frustration – they wanted to play the game as it was originally scheduled – because we’ve got a very congested schedule. Our England and All Stars boys could be subjected to five games in next 16 days, so it’s not been smooth but it’s not just us. The rest of the competition has had a lot to contend with over the last few weeks and if it carries on, then COVID could cause disruption to the league as it is doing all over the country with new variants.”

When it was announced that the Yorkshire outfit had requested their trip to Salford be delayed by the two days, there had been suggestions from some that the Rhinos could have fielded a team including some of their academy players.

Agar though dismissed these claims, saying that if he were to do so, it would not only be unfair on the players but to the whole of Super League including this weekend’s opponents.

“We’ve had a sticky start to the season with injuries and then with COVID, so we need to win to get back in the play offs. People forget that our best and most physically developed academy players are already in our team. Morgan Gannon has played the last three or four games, Levi [Edwards], Corey Hall.

“To dip into the academy – where lads have all had 18 months off, are 16/17 years old and have only two or three games under their belts – just to fulfil fixtures is and would be ridiculous. Why would we do that when the rules are permitted that we can take this course of action as a club?

“From a welfare point of view, for the integrity of competition, for our ambition as a club, why would we do that? Welfare is alright when people want to care about it. The International fixture should have been on a standalone weekend.”

Speaking to Prost International prior to England’s fixture, Agar admitted that he didn’t yet know what his side would look like against Salford on Sunday.

The 49-year-old said the likelihood is that it will be a case of seeing how the land lies after the National team’s game, but confirmed that Tom Holroyd is in line to make his comeback from injury after a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

“We’ll have to get through tonight [the England game]first. We’re planning that the players will back up [play in both games over the weekend]but we’ve not named a team to our guys here because we thought that it was futile, it’s a ‘play it by ear’ job. Turning up to games and not knowing what your team is is disappointing, and quite difficult, but that’s what it is, and I don’t think that any team is going to be without disruption.

“We’ve already seen in Super League that when you take three or four of the best players out of any side, then it can hamper you and we’ve had that to contend with here pretty much all year so far.

“[Tom] Holroyd is back, Bodene Thompson is fit and available again, Cameron Smith is probably not ready for this week but is very close with his hamstring. If there are names missing off our team sheet this week though, the bulk will be Covid related.

“Rather than expecting our England and All Stars boys to come in and have the impact on the team, we want to be able to carry them really. The boys are all itching to play and mentally they’re in a good place. Despite having a tricky start to the season and plenty thrown at us recently, we’ve still got some good momentum going into the game.”

With the Round 11 fixture coming in such unique circumstances, Agar doesn’t know what to expect from the opposition and says that he hasn’t had chance to focus on Salford in the build-up.

“There’s unknowns because they’ve changed their team around. I’ve looked at the 21-man squad today and it’s difficult to predict who will play where [for them]. They’ve got guys who will have to back up like us, they’ve got a suspension in there, so trying to name their team is difficult.

“In terms of preparation, this week we’ve just got to make it about ourselves, and I mean that with no disrespect at all to Salford. We can’t predict their team, we don’t even really know our team at the moment, so we’ve got to make it about doing what we do best and doing it well. The sole focus of our preparation that we’ve done this week has been on us.”

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