- Squad Changes: Leeds Rhinos Women’s Head Coach Lois Forsell has confirmed exactly one alteration to her 21-man squad ahead of the club’s opening home fixture of the Betfred Women’s Super League season.
- New Addition: Academy graduate Amelia Hirst enters the senior squad after an impressive run with the Under-19 team, where she contributed to three consecutive victories at the start of their campaign.
- Key Absence: Forward Lucy Murray is unavailable for selection this week, prompting her removal from the matchday line-up.
- Fixture Details: The match against local West Yorkshire rivals Featherstone Rovers is scheduled for Saturday, 23 May 2026, at AMT Headingley Stadium, with kick-off set for 2:00 pm.
- Historic Record: Leeds Rhinos Women maintain an unbeaten historical streak against Featherstone Rovers, having won every encounter since their inaugural meeting in 2028.
Leeds (The Leeds Times) May 22, 2026 — Leeds Rhinos Women’s Head Coach Lois Forsell has finalised her 21-man squad for the team’s highly anticipated first home fixture of the 2026 Betfred Women’s Super League season. The West Yorkshire side will play host to newly promoted Featherstone Rovers this Saturday, 23 May, at AMT Headingley Stadium, with kick-off scheduled for 2:00 pm. In an official squad announcement released by the Leeds Rhinos Media Team, it was confirmed that Forsell has instituted a single tactical modification to the lineup that featured in the previous round, balancing veteran top-flight experience with emerging youth from the club’s highly lauded development pathways.
As detailed by the club’s official communications unit, forward Lucy Murray has been ruled out of the local derby and is entirely unavailable for selection this weekend. To fill the vacancy, Forsell has handed a senior call-up to Under-19 starlet Amelia Hirst. Hirst earns her promotion to the primary 21-man squad following a standout individual month in the academy ranks, where she played an instrumental role in guiding the Leeds Rhinos Under-19 team to three consecutive victories to open their respective league season.
Who Is In the Leeds Rhinos 21-Man Squad to Face Featherstone Rovers?
The selection reflects Forsell’s broader strategy of integrating academy graduates into a core roster that features proven England internationals and tactical versatility. According to official squad declarations tracked across domestic rugby league syndicates, the complete 21-man squad available for Saturday’s home opener comprises:
- Ruby Enright
- Ebony Stead
- Caitlin Beevers
- Evie Cousins
- Liv Whitehead
- Mel Howard
- Ruby Walker
- Ella Donnelly
- Keara Bennett
- Kaiya Glynn
- Lacey Owen
- Shannon Brown
- Ruby Bruce
- Connie Boyd
- Sophie Nuttall
- Grace Short
- Tally Bryer
- Grace Field
- Lois Naidole
- Georgia Elliston
- Amelia Hirst
In an exhaustive pre-season evaluation published by Lorraine Marsden of Total Rugby League, the journalist observed that Leeds enters the current phase of the 2026 campaign with a markedly more stable core than in prior years. Marsden reported that while the squad has had to navigate the departures of key English pack components, the club’s technical staff have actively utilised their internal systems, noting that
“it enables others to step forward and take those positions. They’ve got a really good production line at Headingley, so I’m expecting a few youngsters to step up from the Academy.”
How Will the Loss of Lucy Murray Impact the Rhinos Pack?
The forced omission of Lucy Murray presents a sudden structural challenge for the Leeds pack. Prior to the squad announcement, Murray was widely identified as a foundational piece of the forward rotation. Writing for Rugby League World magazine, sports analyst Lorraine Marsden remarked that following the loss of senior middle forwards in the winter,
“more responsibility could fall on the shoulders of England star Lucy Murray, who has consistently been Leeds’ best performer over the last couple of years.”
With Murray unavailable, added pressure will fall upon winter signings Georgia Elliston and former Huddersfield Giants centre-forward Lois Naidole to establish physical dominance in the middle of the park. This structural adjustment comes directly after Leeds suffered a tight 18–10 away defeat to rivals Wigan Warriors in Round 1, heightening the urgency for a cohesive pack display at AMT Headingley.
What Are Featherstone Rovers’ Expectations Ahead of the Local Derby?
Featherstone Rovers arrive at Headingley looking to rebound from a challenging opening round, having suffered a 34–8 loss at the hands of Leigh Leopards last week.
Despite entering the fixture as substantial underdogs, the newly promoted side views the derby as a vital benchmark for their top-flight credentials.
In an official pre-match briefing published by the Betfred Super League Media Centre, former Rhinos player Beth MacMillan, who crossed the divide to join Featherstone earlier this year, offered an objective assessment of the squad’s mentality. MacMillan stated:
“It’s always good going up against a harder team, it shows how much you’ve improved over the pre-season. We’ve set our expectations and our goals for that game so as long as we stick to what we’ve agreed on we’ll be happy with the outcome regardless.”
MacMillan further contextualised the operational continuity within the Featherstone camp, explaining to the Super League publication that although she was not present during their successful Championship run, she has observed a deeply ingrained squad chemistry:
“I wasn’t part of the team last year but I’ve seen how they’ve grown and they’ve been a squad who have been together for years now.”
Background of the Particular Development
The roster dynamics shaping this weekend’s West Yorkshire derby are rooted in structural shifts within the Betfred Women’s Super League over the past two seasons. During the 2025 campaign, the competition operated under a highly competitive eight-team format.
Wigan Warriors ultimately secured the domestic treble, defeating St Helens in the Grand Final, whilst Leeds Rhinos finished the regular season in fourth place with nine wins, one draw, and four losses, bowing out in the playoff semi-finals.
At the lower end of the table, Warrington Wolves finished bottom without a single victory and were subsequently relegated to the Women’s Championship.
Concurrently, Featherstone Rovers earned their return to the elite tier by topping the Northern Championship and securing promotion via the playoff system, effectively swapping places with Warrington for the 2026 season. This structural transition forced both clubs into distinct recruitment patterns over the winter.
Leeds Rhinos underwent a calculated youth-centric rebuild under Lois Forsell, managing the departures of senior England internationals Bella Sykes and Izzy Northrop by leaning heavily on their Under-19 setup—which recently secured the Women’s Nines title—and integrating select reinforcements like Australian front-rower Georgia Elliston.
Conversely, Featherstone opted for continuity, retaining the core that achieved promotion while adding experienced top-flight figures like Beth MacMillan to fortify their squad depth for the rigours of the expanded first-tier competition.
Prediction
The tactical adjustments ahead of this Round 2 fixture are poised to directly influence the matchday performance and overall physical durability of both squads, which carries distinct implications for the core audience of domestic women’s rugby league supporters and club stakeholders.
For Leeds Rhinos enthusiasts, the inclusion of Amelia Hirst offers a direct litmus test of the club’s long-term academy integration strategy. If Hirst and fellow junior promotions successfully offset the physical absence of established international forwards like Lucy Murray, it will validate Headingley’s development pathways and reassure stakeholders that the club can sustain its top-tier status without over-relying on external transfer markets.
For the broader Super League viewing audience, this development alters the competitive equilibrium of the match. The absence of a key enforcement forward like Murray narrows the physical gap in the middle of the field, providing Featherstone Rovers with a distinct operational window to establish territory. Consequently, supporters can expect a far more contested, high-intensity forward battle than historical scorelines suggest, directly impacting live match dynamics, defensive rotations, and early-season league table positioning.
