Here's why departing winger David Fusitu'a didn't play in Leeds Rhinos' season-ending loss v Hull KR
A foot injury denied star winger David Fusitu’a a farewell appearance for Leeds Rhinos, coach Brad Arthur revealed.
Fusitu’a joined Leeds ahead of the 2022 season and scored 18 tries in 42 games, but his time at the club was marred by injuries, including one which kept him out of the Grand Final two years ago. He missed the start of this season because of knee damage, suffered an injury to his other leg in his comeback game and had another stint on the sidelines with a calf muscle problem before dropping out of the team for Friday’s visit to Hull KR.
Leeds went into the final round of the regular Betfred Super League season needing a win - and for St Helens to beat Leigh Leopards - to keep their top-six hopes alive, but Rhinos lost 26-16 and Saints were also defeated. That left coach Brad Arthur’s side two points adrift of the play-offs and meant the eight-time champions’ campaign ended in September for the second successive year.
The boss revealed Fusitu’a had been playing through the pain barrier, but broke down in the final training session and had to watch his final game as a Leeds player from the sideline. “It is hard,” Arthur said.
“Over the last month he has hardly trained, he has got that toe which can’t move, pretty much and he is hobbling around on it. He gets a needle in it and plays each game, but just couldn’t get himself through training [on Thursday], he couldn’t even do five minutes. It is unfortunate for him he doesn’t get to have his last game with his teammates.”
The injury to Fusitu’a meant a surprise final Leeds appearance for Luis Roberts, who hadn’t played a senior game since May. It was also the swansong of forwards Rhyse Martin and James Donaldson.
“I’ll talk to them during the week,” Arthur said. “It is disappointing for those guys, Rhyse and Donno in particular.
“They have been here a long time, a lot longer than a lot of players at our club. You could see how important it was to them when they spoke to the group at the end of the game.
“At least they can walk out of here knowing their teammates had a crack. They didn’t get the job done, but even if we had we wouldn’t have been playing [in the play-offs] anyway.”