McDermott wary of serious threat from Dragons

In this week’s edition of Headingley Carnegie Insight, Leeds Rhinos Head Coach Brian McDermott looks ahead to Friday’s clash with Catalan Dragons at Headingley Carnegie, kick off 8pm.

How dangerous will catalan be on friday night?

I think they are a very good side who are well coached and a major threat for silverware this season. Obviously they are a threat to any team on their own patch such is the reputation they have built up down there in Perpignan but they are adding to that now with some consistent form away from home. They are well balanced side with two very good halves in Scott Dureau and Leon Pryce and a very big pack in front of them that is led by Ian Henderson. They will be a major challenge for us and we will need to step up our performances from the London and Wakefield games recently.

How is the injury situation in your team?

We are still waiting on the decision from the experts as regards Rob Burrow’s cheekbone injury. We will make a decision on him on gameday and if he is not selected it will purely be down to the medical opinion and not taking risks with him.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan is probably another three weeks away from returning at the most, although he is working incredibly hard with the medical team to bring that time down but it has been a frustrating time for Weller Hauraki. He made gradual progress initially but in the last two weeks his rate of improvement has slowed down and it is that final 10% of his calf tear that is taking time to heal. He could be ready next week or it might be another two or three weeks.

Kallum Watkins is recovering well from the knee injury he suffered at Bradford and although he is not right for this week, he is not far away now. We are pleased to have Richard Moore back available this week.

Will shaun lunt be involved this friday?

He will play some part against Catalan. He has fitted in straight away in to our set up and we are delighted to have him on board. He is a player who we have admired for a while and we have kept tabs on him to see how is situation was developing. We are delighted to have been able to bring him in this week and I am sure he will show what he can do within our environment in the coming weeks. It will obviously take him time to adjust to a new club however he has all the right attributes to succeed.