It’s another week of struggling to name a team for Rohan Smith.

Yes he has some suspended stars back in the fold in the shape of Matt Prior, Rhyse Martin and Aidan Sezer, but the injury blows from last week continue to plague Smith’s squad ahead of another big game in their play-off pursuit as does another surprise injury with a player many expected to return this week set for surgery.

The man in question is Tom Holroyd who was set to return after a 10 week ban but has damaged his elbow which will now require surgery.

“Tom has torn a ligament in his elbow, in the week before he was ready to return,” said Smith.

“He’s going to have surgery on that in a week or two. It’s really disappointing for Tom as he spent that long period really working on himself.

Smith also provided an update on forward Bodene Thompson, who suffered a rib injury in the Hull KR game and is unavailable this week.

He said: “It’s a bit of an unusual one. He’s got some muscle tears in and around the ribs, some of the smaller muscles that support the ribs. It’s a pain management-type situation.

“He’s an extremely tough human being. He’s having pain while breathing at the moment so he’ll be at least a few weeks away. As the pain settles he can start training again.”

Thompson has played a key role for Leeds under Rohan Smith either at second-row or at prop, but Smith revealed that Leeds aren’t able to keep him at this moment: “Bodene and I have had several conversations about the future and we haven’t been in the position where we can offer something.

“We get on well as a player and coach and he’s one of the most respected teammates but at the minute we aren’t in a position to do anything there.”

Speaking of retention, Smith gave an update on where things were with Zak Hardaker as well as revealing that the fullback is suffering from a niggle at present: “Zak is carrying a few niggles and its the black strapping over his leg.”

“I’ve spoken to Zak’s manager and that’s an ongoing process.”

Smith will be hoping Hardaker is fit to play centre after Harry Newman limped off last week and the Leeds boss revealed that Newman has likely played his last game of the season: “Harry is most likely done for the season,” he said, “We’re undergoing some further external assessment and treatment and we’ll update on timeframes as we go, but at this stage (it looks like) it’s going to be season-ending.

“For Harry on a personal level, we’re disappointed for him. He’s worked really hard.”