{"id":420068,"date":"2026-02-11T14:58:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/420068\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T14:58:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T14:58:10","slug":"leeds-rhinos-dealt-jake-connor-injury-blow-as-team-news-for-leigh-leopards-confirmed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/420068\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos dealt Jake Connor injury blow as team news for Leigh Leopards confirmed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AMZ_2293-1.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"Man of steel\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Leeds Rhinos will be without several key players when they travel to face Leigh Leopards on Friday night in their Super League season opener, with reigning Man of Steel Jake Connor among them.<\/p>\n<p>Connor is one of five Rhinos players with starting XIII shirts who won\u2019t feature whilst Leigh have had a turnaround in injury fortune with many of those expected to miss out, instead named.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides were expected to start the new campaign down on numbers as a result of some bad luck in pre-season having played in games that resulted in them losing multiple players, with Leeds\u2019 clash against Bradford seeing them lose four, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/leeds-rhinos-dealt-blow-as-key-men-ruled-out-and-max-simpson-injury-confirmed-112173\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Simpson to a season-ending ACL<\/a> and captain Ash Handley to a groin issue.<\/p>\n<p>As for Leigh, their pre-season meeting with Warrington saw Umyla Hanley suffer a shoulder injury, whilst two more were lost to failed Head Injury Assessments.<\/p>\n<p>Leeds even saw prop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league-news-leeds-rhinos-star-a-concern-for-super-league-opener-as-brad-arthur-gives-injury-verdict-112424\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mikolaj Oledzki suffer a rib injury<\/a> in the Challenge Cup on Saturday with doubts over whether the England international would pass fit for this season opener.<\/p>\n<p>Know your Super League? Serious About Rugby League have a <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/fantasy.superleague.co.uk\/joinminileague\/166026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Fantasy Super League comp.<\/a> Join it now and compete against our writers. PIN: 12433 Password: SARL2026<\/p>\n<p>Leigh Leopards squad to face Leeds<\/p>\n<p>Adrian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league-news-adrian-lam-provides-latest-on-david-armstrong-as-leigh-leopards-boss-confirms-club-horror-injury-toll-112332\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lam had explained that he was missing 11 players<\/a> for the club\u2019s Challenge Cup clash against North Wales, though most of those are named in the 21-man squad to face Leeds.<\/p>\n<p>One big name who is included is Umyla Hanley and he\u2019ll be a massive boost for the Leopards on the back of his Dream Team success in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>As expected, David Armstrong (ACL) misses out but so does Aaron Pene (unknown), though the Leopards are generally back to full strength outside of that.<\/p>\n<p>Leigh Leopards 21-man squad: Keanan Brand, Tesi Niu, Umyla Hanley, Josh Charnley, Adam Cook, Lachlan Lam, Joe Ofahengaue, Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern, Frankie Halton, Owen Trout, Isaac Liu, Jacob Alick-Wiencke, Matt Davis, Liam Horne, Bailey Hodgson, Innes Senior, Gareth O\u2019Brien, Jack Hughes, Andrew Badrock, Nathan Wilde<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\ud83d\udc06 \ud835\udfee\ud835\udfed \ud835\udde6\ud835\udde4\ud835\udde8\ud835\uddd4\ud835\uddd7 \ud835\udde6\ud835\uddd8\ud835\udddf\ud835\uddd8\ud835\uddd6\ud835\udde7\ud835\uddd8\ud835\uddd7<br \/>Lammy\u2019s squad picks for this Friday\u2019s opening game.<\/p>\n<p>Main Match Sponsor: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HilltopProducts?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@HilltopProducts<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5wAxDfAqk9\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/5wAxDfAqk9<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Leigh Leopards (@LeighLeopardsRL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeighLeopardsRL\/status\/2021555426702320095?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Leeds Rhinos squad to face Leigh<\/p>\n<p>The Rhinos do receive a big boost in the fact that James McDonnell is named despite previous fears that he might be sidelined for Las Vegas due to his syndesmosis injury.<\/p>\n<p>However, neither Mikolaj Oledzki (ribs) or Keenan Palasia (unknown) are named with backs Maika Sivo (ACL) and Handley (groin) also missing out. Most significant is the fact that Man of Steel Jake Connor is not named, meaning the Rhinos are without five of their starting XIII.<\/p>\n<p>Cameron Smith also misses out, as does new signing Jeremiah Mata\u2019utia with the club naming academy players Oscar Brown and Jacob Stead to complete their 21-man squad.<\/p>\n<p>Leeds Rhinos 21-man squad: Lachie Miller, Harry Newman, Ryan Hall, Brodie Croft, Jarrod O\u2019Connor, Tom Holroyd, Kallum Watkins, James McDonnell, Chris Hankinson, Cooper Jenkins, Ethan O\u2019Neill, Presley Casell, Riley Lumb, Danny Levi, Ned McCormack, Ben Littlewood, Tom Nicholson-Watton, George Brown, Fergie McCormack, Oscar Brown, Jacob Stead<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">SQUAD NEWS | Our 21-man squad is locked in to take on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeighLeopardsRL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@LeighLeopardsRL<\/a> \ud83d\udc4a<br \/>\u2705Lachie Miller, James McDonnell &amp; Chris Hankinson all return to the squad after missing last week\u2019s cup clash<\/p>\n<p>MORE \u27a1\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/45D9rE6MAc\" rel=\"nofollow\">https:\/\/t.co\/45D9rE6MAc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/v9gfDtbFE3\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/v9gfDtbFE3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/leedsrhinos\/status\/2021555130722844779?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">February 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click here to watch the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AqnFdXSbINA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a> \u2013 where we preview every Super League club ahead of the 2026 season<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos will be without several key players when they travel to face Leigh Leopards on Friday night&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-420068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}