Harry Newman has a 'small chance' of returning from his latest long-term injury setback this Friday, Rohan Smith has revealed. Newman has been sidelined for several months after requiring hamstring surgery on an injury suffered in the early weeks of the new Super League season.
However, Smith has said the centre is in 'tremendous shape' as he continues his rehabilitation, and has not completely ruled out the prospect of Newman featuring in Friday night's trip to Warrington Wolves - though he did concede it was more likely he could return in the games immediately after that.
Leeds will train on Wednesday before making a final call on his fitness. "He's in tremendous shape but he's still got a few things to get through before he's eligible for selection - but he's not too far away," Smith said on Wednesday morning.
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"It could be this week, there's a small chance of that, but it's likely another week or two. But he could possibly play on Friday."
When asked for a possible timeframe on Newman's return, Smith said: "When we all agree he's done enough work and ticked every possible box in his return-to-play testing. He's trained at a high level in practice on the last week or so, and he's really laid the foundations and worked well with our performance team."
Smith confirmed that Zak Hardaker will continue at fullback for the trip to Warrington, and hinted at minimal changes to his team for that game.
"It won't be too different," he said. "It feels like a long time ago, the last game. We've got through it unscathed so we'll be fairly similar. But it seems like they're in a good space and have good energy."
