No surgery needed for Peacock

England forward Jamie Peacock has become a victim of Leeds Rhinos' early-season injury crisis, although his foot problem is not as serious as first feared.

The 32-year-old prop forward limped off during the Engage Super League champions' 17-10 home defeat by Hull KR last Friday with ligament damage.

As expected, Peacock will miss the trip to leaders Wigan on Friday, as well as the Easter fixtures with Bradford and Catalans Dragons, but he will not join Kallum Watkins, Scott Donald, Greg Eastwood and Carl Ablett on the long-term casualty list after being told he does not need surgery.

Leeds head of physiotherapy Meirion Jones said: "After consulting with the specialist and having reviewed the scans, it was felt that the injury does not require operative intervention at this time.

"The scan has revealed that the joints are aligned properly. Jamie has sprained ligaments in his foot. We will monitor his progress over the next couple of weeks."

Even before Peacock's injury, Leeds were without nine players against Hull KR because of injury and illness and were forced to give debuts to Michael Coady, Chris Clarkson and Kyle Amor.

Chief executive Gary Hetherington has confirmed the club are trying ease the crisis with at least one stop-gap recruit, and are even thought to have inquired about former player Lee Smith, who has made only one appearance for Wasps since switching codes at the end of last season.

However, that seems a long shot and Hetherington conceded that no signing would be made before Friday.

"We have cast our net fairly wide in terms of looking at who may be available," he said.

"We have quite a few irons in the fire but there have been no developments at this moment in time and certainly nobody will be here in time for Wigan on Friday, so we'll have to go with what we've got."