There were fears Donald's campaign could be over after he suffered a painful rib injury in last Friday's 28-18 home win over Bradford Bulls.

But McClennan today said the Aussie winger –who has scored 25 tries this season – is on the mend and could be back in action as early as the start of next month.

"He popped a rib cartilage," said the coach."There's no other damage, but it's very painful.

"He is making some progress so he can be a bit more comfortable.
"The question fans want to know is when will he play next?

"He won't be playing this week against Castleford or next week at Wigan, but after those two games we get a week off and he could possibly be back for the Wakefield game.

"He will play again this season."

Donald had played every minute of every game for Leeds since joining the club at the start of the 2006 season, before missing the defeat at Warrington Wolves on August 2 following the birth of his daughter.
The first injury of his Rhinos career came just five minutes into l
ast week's game, but McClennan said: "That's football.The big thing is he is going to be back.

"Ask any of the boys and they would be happy to miss any amount of games as long as they were going
to be available for the business end. It is good news really."

Ryan Hall (foot) and Clinton Toopi (knee) have been ruled out of the rest of this season and McClennan said long-term casualties Ryan Bailey (ankle) and Jamie Jones-Buchanan (hamstring) are still undergoing treatment and will not be available for Friday's final home league game.

But Ali Lauitiiti will return after a one-match ban and McClennan said Ashley Gibson has emerged unscathed from his first two comeback games in the reserves.

Gibson underwent a knee reconstruction in May last year, but suffered a hamstring injury on his first team return, away to Castleford more than five months ago and has not played a senior game since.

He has played the full 80 minutes in successive reserve fixtures and McClennan said: "He has come through very well and after a long time off, that's really good news.

"He is getting closer to where we want him to be and where he wants to be, so we will have to wait and see when we name the 19 this week."

Meanwhile, McClennan is confident Rhinos' squad can cope with the current run of injuries and he reckons spirits are high following the win over Bradford.

"There were some good individual performances," said McClennan.
"Jamie Peacock was outstanding, Lee Smith did a good job and Jordan Tansey did a good job as well, when he came on for Scott.

"The way Matt Diskin got out of dummy-half was excellent and it was good to have Brent Webb back, he just makes the Rhinos a better team.

"In the second half we really made some progress, because we were playing against a team who were playing well and when Bradford play well, they can beat anybody on their day.

"That's what I liked about the second half, we were competing against a team playing pretty well."

Meanwhile, Bradford full-back Michael Platt is facing a potential five-match ban after being cited for an alleged head butt and punch in last Friday's game.

The former Salford and Castleford player has been charged with a grade D offence, which carries a suspension of between two and five matches.