Coach issues 'make it your own' challenge to Leeds Rhinos pivot v Wigan Warriors after Andy Ackers injury
Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur has thrown down a challenge to Jarrod O’Connor in the wake of fellow hooker Andy Ackers’ long term injury.
Ackers will be sidelined for around three months after tearing a hamstring in last weekend’s Betfred Challenge Cup defeat at St Helens. Arthur confirmed O’Connor - who was 18th man for that game - will take the hooking role in tomorrow’s (Saturday) visit of Wigan Warriors.
“It is disappointing for Andy,” Arthur said. “He had a good pre-season and nobody likes to be out of the team for that long, but the flip side of it is it gives Jarrod an opportunity. He wants to be a hooker and this is his opportunity with not a lot of pressure on him, really. He is not fighting for a spot now, he has got it to try to make it his own and when Andy’s back, we’ll worry about that then.”
Ackers started every game for Rhinos this year before his injury and - speaking at his weekly preview press conference today - Arthur praised his response to the setback. He said: “He is disappointed, but straight away, once he got the diagnosis, his first thing was he reached out to me to let me know he’ll do everything he can to get back as quick as he can and he is committed to the whole season. That was a good, positive response from a bloke that’s pretty professional.”
Jack Sinfield, who is a specialist half-back but trained at hooker in pre-season, replaced Ackers during last week’s game and Arthur confirmed he will continue on the bench against Wigan. “I thought he did a reasonable job for us last week when he came on,” the coach added.
“He is still learning the role and it’s good for him and his development, being able to play a couple of different positions. Having him on the bench means if something was to happen in the backline he can play in the halves and we can move guys around. It gives us a bit of flexibility.”
For the first time, full-back Lachie Miller, stand-off Brodie Croft, scrum-half Matt Frawley - who is available after concussion - and Jake Connor, a full-back or half, are all up for selection. Arthur hinted Miller will continue at full-back, but is keeping his plans for Frawley and Connor under wraps.
“We’ve got a few combinations,” he said. “It is good to have those guys available because it puts pressure on all of them to do their job really well and own that control of the team and that communication, which has been down a bit. Having Lachie there certainly helped, he is a threat and he takes pressure off other guys when they’ve got the ball.”
Last week was Miller’s first rugby since injuring a hamstring in September. The Aussie suffered a calf muscle problem in pre-season and trained only once with the team before his comeback. “He pulled up really well and has done two sessions this week,” Arthur reported. “There’s some new combinations there and we need to improve those combinations quickly.”