Zak Hardaker prepares to face Leeds for the first time

The 25-year-old England full-back scored 67 tries in 155 appearances for the Rhinos but is currently on a season-long loan with Castleford and is hoping to help them maintain their impressive start to the Betfred Super League season when Brian McDermott's men visit the Jungle on Thursday night.

Hardaker, who is already showing signs of recapturing the form that earned him the Man of Steel award in 2015, is allowed to face his parent club, and he admits he marked out the reunions on his calendar as soon as the fixtures came out.

"We play them at Magic Weekend too so we've got them three times, which is funny," Hardaker said.

"I love that club. It's a great club and they made me what I am today. I'm really grateful for what they did for me.

"I watch them whenever I can. I do wish them all the best, just not against Cas."

The Tigers have a chance to top the table following opening wins over Leigh and Warrington but their build-up to the derby has been clouded by the axing of stand-off Rangi Chase following an internal investigation.

With the club's other specialist stand-off Ben Roberts sustaining a groin injury in training, coach Daryl Powell may have to turn to hooker Paul McShane as the partner for Luke Gale, who has been identified as the key player by Leeds coach McDermott.

It was McDermott who gave the Leeds-born Gale his break in Super League when he was coach of Harlequins in 2009 and he has no doubt that the Castleford man should be England's scrum-half for the end-of-season World Cup.

"He was very young when he came down to London and he was playing in a team that was on the back foot a lot," McDermott said. "But he had that element of being a genuine seven, that cockiness and an ability to control people around him.

"I'm not surprised he's kicked on. He's flying at the moment and I think he'll be good for England if Wayne Bennett picks him at the end of the year and puts some faith in him and gets the team to play around him.

"One of England's weaknesses over the last five or six years is the lack of a genuine six and seven that work together."

Leeds are aiming for a third successive win but McDermott believes the Tigers are the form team of the competition.

"I think they're the best team in the comp right now," McDermott said. "They're a great attacking team. It's hard to make an assessment of their defensive qualities because they take so much out of you on attack.

"They're flying at the moment and I can't see anybody touching them just yet."

In Thursday's other game, Hull will be looking to bounce back from their home defeat to Catalans Dragons when they go to Huddersfield.

"We were very disappointed with the way it went last Thursday," said Hull full-back Jamie Shaul. "That's not us. We had a game plan set out and we felt, if we had stuck to it, we would have come away with two points.

"We've had a hard week's training and hopefully we can rectify a few wrongs and put them right on Thursday."

Hull are without skipper Gareth Ellis as well as suspended front rower Liam Watts but the Giants, too, are under-strength and coach Rick Stone is expecting a backlash from the visitors.

"We know we are up against it," he said. "They are the current Challenge Cup champions and after they got beat last week at home, they'll be stinging a little bit."