Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith backs Harry Newman to excel in comeback game against Huddersfield Giants

The talented centre suffered a recurrence of a troublesome hamstring injury in his only outing of the season to date against Wakefield Trinity in early March and underwent surgery on the issue, sidelining him for three months.

But Newman has stepped up his recovery in recent weeks to leave Smith convinced that he is ready to return at the John Smith's Stadium.

"Harry will be playing," said the Rhinos head coach.

"I expect him to play well. He's been training hard with real intent and a great balanced programme to get him in not only good physical shape but good football shape.

"He's been doing a lot of training in the last couple of weeks so he's been in and around it adding his personal touch and energy to the situation.

"He's certainly contributed to the quality of our practice and environment. The next step is for him to be physically part of it on game day.

"He's got that ability to turn small things into big things. He's powerful, explosive but we've been chatting about working on his complete game.

"He's got a lot to grow as a young player to be regarded as a good all-round player, not just a big-play player."

Back-rower Alex Mellor was also named in Smith's 21-man squad after missing five games with a sternum injury.

Morgan Gannon's absence through suspension opens the door for Mellor - but impressive performances by James Donaldson and Bodene Thompson in the resounding win over Warrington Wolves have left Smith with a selection headache.

"Alex has taken good care of himself," said Smith.

"He's had a sternum injury which hampered his ability to do a lot of contact work until recent times. The rest of his body is in condition so he's fit and healthy.

"We've got good options there with people playing well with work under their belt. James Donaldson did a great job last week coming on earlier than expected and Bodene Thompson showed what he can do as an edge back-rower.

"We'll finalise the make-up of the 17 tomorrow."