Leeds Rhinos: Richard Agar cancels players’ day off to focus fully on “mental challenges”

RED FACED Leeds Rhinos players were called in on their day off following the Coral Challenge Cup humbling at Bradford Bulls.

Rhinos return to action at home to Castleford Tigers on Thursday and interim coach Richard Agar said they needed to put the Bulls defeat behind them as quickly as possible.

“We cancelled their day off [on Sunday] and decided to bring them in,” Agar confirmed. “There’s no way we could let that run into this week on such a short turnaround.

“We got them in on their day off and went through a lot of parts of the game.”

Marquee centre Konrad Hurrell suffered a recurrence on a hamstring strain on his return from three games out and is doubtful for this week’s derby. Agar will name his initial 19-man squad today and said: “It will be a struggle for him to make this one, but we are not ruling it out just yet.”