Rohan Smith believes Leeds prop Mikolaj Oledzki will have benefitted from his World Cup experience, despite only being picked for one England game. Oledzki, the only ever-present for the Rhinos in 2022 as they made the Grand Final, featured in just one of England’s World Cup games – the win against France in Bolton on October 22.
Yet Smith believes the Poland-born star will benefit from his time with Shaun Wane’s squad, saying: “He’s been around a quality coaching staff and a lot of really seasoned, class players. I’m sure he’s picked up a lot of experience and knowledge without having played too much.
“Just being in that environment will be good for a young guy like Mikolaj, who is always striving to improve. He’s on a break now because it’s been such a long year and is now time to get away from rugby for a bit.”
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Leeds are into their third week of pre-season and there will be staggered starts for a number of players. New recruit and former Samoa international Sam Lisone – signed from NRL side Gold Coast Titans on a two-year deal – has yet to arrive in England.
“We’re into our third week of pre-season and have had a staggered return to training for different groups of players,” said Smith. “Some of the young guys who played a lot of Super League came back last week, some of the more seasoned guys started back on Monday and then we’ve got a bit of a staggered return through December for our World Cup guys.”
On the new recruits, Smith revealed: “Luis Roberts started pre-season on Monday of this week having been at the World Cup with Wales. James McDonnell and Justin Sangare haven’t started yet because of their World Cup commitments while Sam Lisone will be here in the coming weeks.
“But Derrell Olpherts, Toby Warren, Leon Ruan and Luke Hooley have all started, so pre-season so far has been really positive. I guess we won’t be all together until around Christmas time, but we’ll be ready for the Boxing Day friendly against Wakefield.”
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