The Leeds Rhinos will be aiming to return to the play-off positions with victory over the Wakefield Wildcats at Headingley Carnegie on Monday night.
The champions find themselves down in ninth in the table a point behind the Bradford Bulls,although they do have a game in hand over their rivals.
Richard Agar's Wakefield are a side on the up and three consecutive victories following their Magic Weekend win over the Castleford Tigers means they are four points behind Brian McDermott's men.
The Wildcats have beaten the likes of the London Broncos and Hull FC recently and they will be quietly confident of springing an upset on the out-of-form Rhinos.
Wakefield also have the added bonus of having all of their players rested for the short trip up the M1 while a number of Rhinos stars featured in England's win over the Exiles on Saturday.
The likes of Ryan Hall and Carl Ablett played the full 80 minutes at Langtree Park while Rob Burrow, Jamie Peacock and Jamie-Jones Buchanan all featured during the 18-10 victory.
Leeds also had a number of rising stars on show in the England Knights' 62-4 romp over Ireland with Zak Hardaker, Ben-Jones Bishop, Chris Clarkson and Shaun Lunt turning out.
"Given where we are in the league, the players probably do need to back up,"
he stated. "The reality is the players won't recover in time for Monday's game."
McDermott will assess the fitness of his internationals prior to finalising his starting XIII, although he will definitely be without full-back Brent Webb with a torn medial ligament.
Wakefield are without newly-appointed captain Danny Kirmond after he damaged his cheekbone and eye socket in their 24-6 victory over the Broncos.
"Apart from (Kirmond) we came through with a clean bill of health from last week so I wouldn't envisage too many changes to the team we put out this week," commented Agar.
That means academy products Kyle Trout and Lucas Walshaw retain their places in the squad after playing their part in the Wildcats' sixth victory of the season against the Black and Whites.
Rhinos squad: Ben Jones-Bishop, Hardaker, Hall, McGuire, Burrow, Leuluiai, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ablett, Sinfield, Delaney, Bailey, Kirke, Clarkson, Hauraki, Griffin, Moore, Ward, Lunt
Wildcats squad: Mathers, Fox, Collis, Mellars, Cockayne, John, Wilkes, Raleigh, Lauitiiti, Southern, Washbrook, Aiton, Amor, Mariano, Smith, Trout, Walshaw, Sykes