Hull FC v Leeds Rhinos latest team news and 21-man squads
There will be at least one change to Leeds Rhinos’ side for today’s huge game at Hull FC.
Rhinos are fifth in Betfred Super League, one place and seven points ahead of Hull. They will qualify for the play-offs, for the first time since 2022, if they win at MKM Stadium or seventh-placed Wakefield Trinity fail to beat Huddersfield Giants later today.
Leeds - who will be backed by around 1,200 travelling fans - are without centre and co-captain Ash Handley for the first time this season. He has a groin injury and joins Maika Sivo (knee), Cameron Smith (back), Tom Holroyd (scaphoid), Alfie Edgell (foot), Tom Nicholson-Watton (foot) and Ethan Clark-Wood (shoulder) on the casualty list.
Mikolaj Oledzki is expected to return after missing five games with a fractured cheekbone and fellow prop Cooper Jenkins is back in the 21-man squad following a two-match layoff due to ankle damage. Centre Max Simpson is in contention to make his first senior appearance since July, 2022 when he suffered a fractured ankle in a defeat at Toulouse Olympique.
He ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in training the following January and has featured in only two reserves games after returning to the field this summer. Half-back Jack Sinfield and loan signing Joe Shorrocks are the other two players vying for a call into the 17.
Of a potential debut for Shorrocks, who can play hooker or loose-forward, coach Brad Arthur said: “He is real close. He has trained really well and he is not far off. His attitude is very good, he competes hard and he has got some pretty good skill about him so he has actually lifted the quality of the training. He has done a good job with that.”
Two Rhinos players are set to reach a milestone today. It will be Ryan Hall’s 400th Super League appearance and the 150th game of Harry Newman’s career.
Hull are without second-rower Jed Cartwright, son of coach John Cartwright. He tore a pectoral tendon in last week’s defeat at St Helens and won’t play again this season. Prop Liam Watts comes back into the reckoning following a concussion and Callum Kemp has also been drafted in. Will Gardiner, Lloyd Kemp and Logan Moy retain their place in the 21, but Sam Eseh - last week’s other unused squad member - drops out because of a hamstring problem.
Hull FC: Rapana, Barron, Hardaker, Chamberlain, Briscoe, Sezer, Ese’ese, Bourouh, Lane, Cust, Aydin, Ashworth, Fash, Litten, Gardiner, Martin, Moy, Laidlaw, C Kemp, L Kemp, Watts.
Leeds Rhinos: from Miller, Newman, Hall, Croft, Oledzki, Ackers, Palasia, Bentley, McDonnell, O’Connor, Lisone, Gannon, Jenkins, Connor, Sinfield, Littlewood, Simpson, Watkins, Cassell, Hankinson, Shorrocks.
Referee: Aaron Moore (Wigan). Kick-off: Saturday, 3pm.