Nothing to prove: Leeds Rhinos stand-off Blake Austin looks ahead to first Super League clash with old club Warrington Wolves

A one-match ban prevented Austin debuting for Rhinos against his previous club in Betfred Super League round one four months ago.

And, having spent three seasons with Warrington and been a Man of Steel nominee with them in 2019, he admitted it is a game he has been looking forward to.

“Everyone that leaves a club has a look on the calendar when they are going to verse them and obviously I missed the first one,” Austin - who left Warrington at the end of last season - said.

“I have got nothing to prove or anything like that, but I will have a few of my mates on the other side and I’ll certainly be looking to get one over them.”

More importantly, a win at HJ Stadium could set Rhinos up for a much improved second half of the campaign.

They are 10th in the table, two places and one point behind Warrington and Austin reckons “both teams will be earmarking this game as a chance to really kick-start their season”.

He said: “I think they will be equally excited to beat us as we will be if we get one over them.

“They are also a pretty big club and they are not where they want to be.

“They’ve had a new coach come in and had big plans of turning things around.

“We understand they are going to be just as desperate as we are, but we are confident.

“Probably a good four out of the last six weeks have been pretty positive for us and we just want to get going now.

“Breaks have been coming too regularly, it is hard to build momentum, but I guess it is the same for everyone.”

Tonight will be Rohan Smith’s third game as Rhinos coach and comes exactly a month after he arrived at Leeds.

Rhinos have confirmed Austin will remain at the club next year and he said: “It has been good, he is adding little bits as the weeks go by.

“I think Rohan certainly can’t wave a magic wand and make it all happen for us, but I think most of us are enjoying the ideas he has around the game

“Those ideas, we feel, are going to work for everyone; he plays to everyone’s strengths.

“I think a lot of his belief is around individuals doing their bit for the team, but then understanding you are going to have to give a little bit at certain times for other people to do what they are good at as well.”

After three wins from their last four games, the players’ mood is buoyant, but Austin insisted team spirit has never been an issue

“We’ve probably been in pretty good spirits for a month or so,” he said.

“The Salford game was our most disappointing one of late, but we’ve got a group that really understands we are nowhere near where we should be and it’s a group that is really cracking on and working hard to make sure we climb that ladder.

“Obviously the results have improved from the first six weeks, but the spirit and the desire to do well hasn’t really changed; we have always had that.

“The four or five weeks with Jonesy [interim-coach Jamie Jones-Buchanan] was really good.

“We came off a pre-season with [previous boss] Rich Agar which we were all confident we could do something good on the back of, but we have had three coaches now and they are all completely different.

“They’ve all brought their own things and they are all good at their own things. This is Rohan’s first half-year of a three-and-a-half year deal and we are all enjoying what he is throwing down at the moment.”

Matt Prior will return following suspension tonight and Corey Johnson is available after recovering from medial knee ligament damage.

Jack Walker, Harry Newman, Aidan Sezer and Alex Mellor are all due back in the next few weeks and Austin admitted this year’s injury crisis has played a part in Rhinos’ poor first half of the campaign.

He reflected: “We’ve still had quality players on the park, but we’ve been missing three, four or five players each week who would certainly be in our strongest 13, because of suspensions and injuries.

“It doesn’t mean we should be where we are , but you have to take that into some consideration.”