Why try hat-trick might not be enough to keep winger Riley Lumb in Leeds Rhinos' team v St Helens
Winger Riley Lumb is in danger of dropping out of Leeds Rhinos’ side for Friday’s huge game at St Helens, despite his hat-trick against York Knights.
Lumb was recalled for the 66-16 win two days ago (Sunday) in place of Jack Bird who missed out after failing a head injury assessment the previous week. Bird will come back into contention for the visit to Saints and - though selection could depend on the fitness of scrum-half Jake Connor - that is likely to mean someone else in the outside-backs losing their spot.
If Leeds line up as they did before Bird’s concussion, with him at centre and Harry Newman on a wing, it will leave no room in the starting side for Lumb. The 21-year-old hasn’t been able to nail down a regular place this year, but has scored five tries in as many appearances.
“Riley started really well, he backed himself, scored a couple of tries and set up a nice one,” Arthur said of the winger following the match in York. “I am really happy for him and that’s what we want. It is hard to crack our team and when these guys get an opportunity we just want them to come in and do their job.”
But the team boss added: “They might do it really well, then someone comes back and they get kicked out again. It’s just what it is. It is a very fortunate position we are in and our guys who aren’t making the team on a regular basis at the moment have been training really well against us and helping with our preparation going into games.
“That’s part of Riley’s job and when he gets his chance, make sure he nails it. He did [on Sunday].”
New signing Matt Lodge is set for more game time after a try scoring debut last weekend. The former North Queensland Cowboys prop jarred the ball loose in the first tackle of the second half and then crashed over from close range in the resulting set.
Arthur reflected: “Because of his body shape he is going to be hard to stop from there, if he gets close to the line. There was a video sent in from his family and one of his young boys asked him to make sure he gets a try for him in his first game, so I think the family will be happy.”
Lodge was a substitute against York just a week after arriving in England. Arthur added: “He was good. He has just got to get used to some different interpretations here, he was probably trying to fight a bit hard to get up and play the ball.
“I thought overall he did a pretty good job. He hasn’t been playing a lot of minutes over the last month so that’s why we wanted to cap him at 10- or 12-minute stints. He probably got close to 35 minutes in some heat, but he should be used to that from North Queensland.”