Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith has told fans not to panic about worrying pre-season displays insisting: “It’s part of the plan.” Last year’s beaten Grand Finalists kick-off the Super League season at Warrington on Thursday.
But many of their faithful fear the worst after losing three of their four friendly outings. Smith has also played some players out of their regular positions but the Aussie insisted: “We’re in good condition.
“We haven’t played as cohesively as we’d like but we’ve looked pretty fit and ready for combat. Fortunately, there’s no competition points given out so far. It (trying things) is part of the plan in many cases. We’ll be ready to have a good crack at Warrington.”
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He explained his reasoning behind giving certain players time in different positions to the norm’. Smith said: “For me, it’s really vital for the longevity of your squad through a season to be able to have people able to play different positions well. Not just fill in there but actually do well.
“In some cases, players have played these positions previously and just been pushed to find a certain path. I’m just trying to revisit their youth a little in some situations. But I also think it helps the overall squad strength and the individual player evolve if they can play other positions. I haven’t tried to get anyone to do anything too far out. It’s just a little shift.”
The most obvious is talented 19 year-old second-row Morgan Gannon who has featured at half-back in some pre-season outings. Asked if such experiments have made him think a player could be better suited to the new position, Smith said: “In Morgan’s case, he’s an extremely intelligent person.
“As a football player he’s very clever, he understands the game, when the ball’s in his hands, good things happen. He can communicate very well, bring others into the game, is selfless but is confident and is very, very calm. “So, a lot of the attributes a running half-back might have, Morgan has.
“The other thing is he’s 19-year old so to be able to play two positions and he could easily play middle in the future as well. He won’t be playing in the middle anytime soon on a regular basis but he did do that at various times last year.
“But to be able to play edge back-rower or in the halves, there are a lot of similarities to those positions: defensively they’re one spot away from each other, those two work together a lot in the game in attack and defence so understanding both roles equally well might just help him as a back-rower as well.”
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