Richard Agar met with the press on Wednesday to preview Leeds Rhinos' Super League clash with Catalans Dragons on Thursday night. Here is everything Agar said on the key issues at the Rhinos ahead of the game.
On Richie Myler's injury
Agar has confirmed Leeds expect to be without Myler for around 10 weeks after successful surgery earlier this week to repair a torn adductor muscle.
"He's had his adductor repaired and the initial estimate is around 10 weeks, which could have been worse," he said. "The specialist that looked at it talked about the way he landed can do damage to the ACL, so he feels he's been a little lucky to escape further damage looking at the incident. He's torn the adductor but it's been repaired and we're looking at around 10 weeks."
On Harry Newman and David Fusitu'a's recoveries
Both Newman and Fusitu'a are sidelined for Thursday's meeting with the Dragons, but Agar confirmed he expects both to be in contention for next week's trip to Wakefield Trinity.
"Touch wood, the picture is going to change pretty quickly in terms of selection for the net week or two," Agar said. "It was just a touch early for Fusitu'a. He's still having some after-effects from the tackle and isn't quite right to play at the moment. We felt he was going to be back this week but it's a bigger picture situation and we just don't want to rush it."
Newman's return is also imminent. "He's just a week away," Agar said. "We want a bit more training load into him, but he's fully healed and repaired. But with it being a four-week injury like it has been, we needed a few more miles through him before we made him available."
On Rhyse Martin's return to England
Martin is currently in Australia on compassionate grounds following the death of his father, but Agar said that he is quietly confident the forward could also be available to face Wakefield next week.
"Rhyse will be on his way back soon," he said. "He's been training while he's away but he's had a lot of travel and he's had a lot to deal with, but we'll see how he pulls up. He'll have a bit of time to be ready but hopefully, we've got a selection headache with the two guys there playing well on Thursday."
On Jon Wilkin's criticism of Aidan Sezer
Wilkin was critical of Sezer's performance during last Friday's defeat to Wigan Warriors, but Agar chose to call on his entire squad to step up and improve after a disappointing outcome at the DW Stadium last week.
"I didn't listen to Jon Wilkin's comments for starters," Agar said. "He's paid for his opinions and he's generally got pretty good opinions but there's room for improvement across the board. I thought we were too deep and played before the line, and our timing was off.
"Across the board, to hold one guy up.. I haven't heard his comments and I'm not really in the business of responding to TV pundits, even though I've got one on my own staff (Jamie Jones-Buchanan) who's sat with me now.
"We know where we let ourselves down and we know how to fix it up. I want a much-improved display, not just from Aidan but our whole team. Aidan playing with 12 men in round one was magnificent for us."
