Injury-hit Ferres just relieved to be back '¨at Rhinos

Ferres made a strong return, being held up over the line twice and playing for the opening hour, in Leeds’s 38-14 derby win over one of his former clubs, Wakefield Trinity, three days ago.

The 30-year-old carried a groin problem through much of last season and was also troubled by a calf injury which forced him out of England’s Four Nations squad.

The injuries took much longer than expected to clear up, but he got through Friday’s comeback unscathed – despite only limited preparation – and feels he can now make a significant contribution to Leeds’ season.

“I’ve had a couple of decent weeks now and been able to back up some training and the pain has disappeared a bit,” said Ferres.

“I trained on Monday with the boys, we had Tuesday off, I pulled up all right on Wednesday and we had the team run on Thursday.

“It was a bit of a late call, but it was important for me to really get some game time under my belt.

“It’s frustrating sitting on the sidelines and all I wanted to do was get out there and help the boys.

“The injury’s been a long and tedious one, it has been very irritating and frustrating, but hopefully I am over it now.

“I only ran a couple of times during the week, but I felt all right in the game and I’m looking forward to being out with the boys and getting some combinations back and hopefully contributing to us this year.”

The win over Wakefield was Leeds’s second in succession following a record 66-10 defeat at Castleford Tigers at the start of the month.

Ferres described that setback as a “learning curve” and feels Rhinos – who have won four of their opening six Super League games – are now heading in the right direction.

“We’ve got a lot more cohesion in our halves and we are creating a lot more and I think everyone’s on board with it,” he said.

“We are starting to look back to our best and a bit more capable in attacking areas.

“It is exciting times, coming off a couple of wins.

“We go to Huddersfield on Friday and it’d be nice to get some momentum and be consistent in what we are doing and hopefully keep getting the wins.”