Leeds Rhinos news: Lachie Miller update ahead of Warrington Wolves as player returns from 2-year injury
Leeds Rhinos coach Brad Arthur has answered the big question over Lachie Miller’s fitness ahead of tomorrow’s visit of Warrington Wolves - and confirmed another player’s return from a 28-month layoff.
Full-back Miller didn’t play in the second half of Rhinos’ win over Wakefield Trinity two weeks ago after picking up a calf muscle injury. Rhinos were without a game last weekend, because of the Betfred Challenge Cup final and Arthur confirmed Miller is now “good to go”.
Speaking at his weekly preview press conference today (Friday), Arthur said: “It’s credit to Adam [Megretton, head of strength and conditioning] and Ferg [David Ferguson, head-physio] to get him up and ready and also to take that tough decision at half-time in the last game.
“They put their foot down and said he needs to come off. As a coach you want to try and keep them out there as long as you can, but now, on reflection, we made the right decision. It’s credit to those guys for being forceful around what needed to happen.”
Rhinos’ reserves take on Warrington in a curtain-raiser tomorrow and Arthur confirmed 20-year-old centre Max Simpson will play, for the first time in more than two years. Simpson made four Super League appearances in 2022, but has been sidelined since a pre-season anterior cruciate ligament injury in January, 2023.
“We’ll probably play him for half a game tomorrow, then we’ve got a short turnaround into another game the following week,” Arthur said. “He has trained well and everyone’s excited for him just to get out on the field.
“We don’t really care how he plays, just get through that 40 minutes and walk off the field knowing he has got a game out. It has been a long time and it is credit to the kid. Everyone’s happy for him to get to this stage and to get out on the field tomorrow.”
Simpson was one of Rhinos’ brightest prospects before his injury and was given a contract extension during the layoff. Arthur added: “Everyone tells me how good he is and I’ve seen at training some glimpses of that. I am excited just to see him get out on the field. Expectations aren’t high from us at the moment, it is about getting through healthy.”