Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur has confirmed that Maika Sivo will sit out the next six weeks with a broken forearm.

The Fijian winger had a plate inserted on Wednesday morning and is not expected to return until the final weekend of the regular season when Hull FC visit Headingley.

The injury wrecks Sivo's hopes of bolstering his 29 Super League tries enough to break the record of 40 set by Castleford Tigers flyer Denny Solomona.

Arthur is philosophical about the latest blow for the title hopefuls, which is compounded by the loss of young back-rower Ben Littlewood to a season-ending hamstring injury.

"Every time you have an injury, it doesn't matter if it's Maika or someone else, it's a blow to the team," said Arthur, who is already without the likes of Ash Handley, Ryan Hall and Keenan Palasia. "But it gives opportunities to other guys and builds resilience and character.

"The fact that we only had two reserves left after half an hour the other night, they're the things that really galvanise a team and show what you're made of.

"I liked our response. I know we got a fair bit wrong in the game but we never got anything wrong with our choices or attitude.

"We've got to be tough and strong right now. Outside of Ben Littlewood, none of them are ruled out for the season. Keenan will be around that Hull FC game so we'll get quite a few of them back around that period.

Maika Sivo was forced off in the win over Bradford. (Photo: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com)

placeholder image — Maika Sivo was forced off in the win over Bradford. (Photo: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com)

"Maika will be in a brace rather than plaster. We'll look after it for the first couple of weeks and make sure there's no infection. After 10 days or two weeks max, we'll be able to run him, keep him fit, avoid any contact and he'll be right to go for the last game."

Handley and Hall remain sidelined for Friday's home clash with Toulouse Olympique and are "touch and go" for next week's derby at Wakefield Trinity.

Chris Hankinson is poised to return this week but the Rhinos will continue to adopt a patient approach with Danny Levi following his recent neck scare.

"It certainly won't be within a month from the time of his injury," added Arthur, who is set to hand teenage back-rower Zak Lloyd his debut against Toulouse. "It's a minimum of four weeks and from there it's just when everyone's comfortable and he's comfortable – it's just a week at a time as we progress him back into contact slowly.

"It could be another week or two after that or another three or four. I'm not sure but it's definitely a month from the time of injury."