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Matthew Shaw

Leeds Rhinos' shortcomings laid bare as Rohan Smith sees first hand the issues he's tasked with fixing

Over to you, Rohan.

As Leeds Rhinos' new coach watched on at the AJ Bell Stadium, the enormity of the job at hand will have been clear to see. After a string of promising performances, this was back to the norm of what has been on show this season.

In attack, their execution was poor. In defence, they were weak. Their discipline was patchy, their kicking game largely terrible. The same individuals are making the same mistakes too.

Read more: Leeds Rhinos player ratings as too many faulter against Salford Red Devils

Smith insisted after the game that he was under no illusions at the size of the job after his first 80 minutes in charge. He rightfully pointed out they fixed up defensive issues after half-time and the fact several players got through their first games from injury unscathed was an undoubted positive too.

But the reality is Leeds just lost, convincingly, to a side that had previously lost six straight games and hadn't won since they last got two points off the Rhinos. It's hard to put a positive spin on that.

It's clear that changes are needed, what's not yet clear is whether they will come. As the season develops, it's becoming clear that the high-profile recruitment drive was not as impressive as it was on paper. Leeds have been unable to recapture Blake Austin's best form. Aidan Sezer and David Fusitu'a, who both missed plenty of games for their previous clubs before joing Leeds, have continued to miss plenty of games. James Bentley has struggled to stay in line with the match officials.

Over time, the quartet may turn things around over time; Bentley's effort is admirable, if anything he is trying too hard, and Fusitu'a showed glimpses of what he's capable of on his return, but if you were ranking recruitment drives right now across the competition, Leeds would comfortably be near the bottom.

Something can still be salvaged from this season, they're still only five points off the play-offs, but it would be ridiculous to think anything more can be achieved, such is the gulf between them and the competition's top teams right now.

More than anything, recruitment needs to be nailed down to a tee. The proof is there at how one bad recruitment cycle can negatively change a team. But there are plenty of examples out there that show one excellent cycle can change everything too.

And in that sense there are big decisions to make. Leeds have a fair amount of cap space they could free up with those who remain off-contract, enough for Smith to make a fair number of changes but not enough for a wholesale clear out. That's if he doesn't want them all to stay, too.

It would be foolish to make too many assumptions based on one game, but anyone who thinks this is a quick fix needs to think again.

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