Rhinos v Warriors: Teams

Leeds and Wigan meet at Headingley on Friday night in a repeat of last year's Super League play-off semi-final.

The Warriors won on that occasion to end the Rhinos' lengthy reign as champions but go into this fixture off the back of a first league loss in 2011.

But, despite being beaten by Warrington at the DW Stadium, Leeds boss Brian McDermott still believes the Cherry and Whites are as strong as they were last year.

Indeed, McDermott feels the clash against Michael Maguire's men will give him the chance to assess exactly where his side are right now.

Rapid changes

So far the Rhinos have won four and lost three at the start of the new campaign, with their last outing seeing them triumph 28-6 at Wakefield.

"It's been progressive, I would say," said McDermott. "There have been some changes - some pretty rapid changes - and we've got to take heart from the fact in each game we've played, we've improved.

"At the weekend I thought we were as strong defensively as Leeds have been for a while and hopefully we'll improve again this weekend.

"Wigan are strong, just as strong as they were last year. There are a couple of teams that have laid a marker down - that's Wigan and Warrington - and the rest of the competition has got to get close to them."

The hosts have included Lee Smith in their 19-man squad but the England international remains a major doubt due to a hamstring injury.

Luke Burgess is missing from the squad named against the Wildcats but Ian Kirke, who sat out that game through illness, returns.

Tomkins returns

Wigan, meanwhile, welcome back Joel Tomkins from suspension as they look to bounce back to winning ways. However, Maguire still feels there were plenty of positives to take out of the 24-6 reverse to the Wolves.

"It was disappointing, but we will learn a lot from that game," he told Sky Sports News HD.

"We didn't complete our sets and we weren't at our best defensively. But we take a lot of positives out of it, particularly as we weren't at our best."

Tomkins' availability leaves Maguire facing a selection headache, though he could opt to use the player in the centres.

Experienced half-back Paul Deacon is again missing, while Pat Richards could feature for Wigan under 20s this weekend as he continues his comeback from an Achilles injury he suffered in last year's Grand Final.

Leeds squad: Webb, Smith, Senior, Hall, Burrow, Leuluai, Buderus, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Cross, Bailey, Kirke, Watkins, Hauraki, Clarkson, Pitts, McShane, Singleton

Wigan squad: S. Tomkins, Goulding, Carmont, Leuluai, McIlorum, Coley, Hansen, J. Tomkins, O'Loughlin, Prescott, Lima, Hoffman, Finch, Roberts, Mossop, Farrell, Tuson, Marsh, Charnley