Rohan Smith will hope to hit the ground running when he arrives in England to begin his reign as head coach of Leeds Rhinos. The highly-rated Australian has been tasked with engineering an upturn in form and fortunes at Headingley following a disastrous 2022 campaign so far.
Head coach Richard Agar stepped down last month after admitting his players were not responding to his methods and interim boss Jamie Jones-Buchanan has struggled to stop the rot. Now, though, as Smith looks to work his magic, Leeds Live assesses the challenges and opportunities facing the former Bradford Bulls chief.
Discipline
Ill discipline cost Leeds dear during their Easter Monday defeat at Castleford Tigers. With the scores tied at 8-8, James Bentley – not for the first time this season – conceded a penalty which Castleford converted.
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From there the Tigers did not look back, scoring a match-clinching try through Liam Watts with Leeds still down to 12 men with Bentley off the field. The Rhinos need to cut out these kind of lapses in discipline and become a ‘cleaner’ side.
But they need to reduce the number of suspensions, too. Six Rhinos have already been suspended this year missing 15 games between them. That is the worst record in the competition and is damaging their ability to get their best team on the pitch. The Rhinos simply must improve in this department.
Injuries
Another issue that has become so deep that interim boss Jamie Jones-Buchanan now believes the club must look into it. The Rhinos' issue with injuries isn't a new trend. They were hampered severely in 2021 and this year they've been without key players all year.
Neither Richie Myler or Harry Newman have played 80 minutes. David Fusitu'a has played three games and come off injured in them twice. Aidan Sezer and now Liam Sutcliffe have been forced to the sidelines due to issues they've been nursing all year. Jack Walker is injured again and Tom Holroyd has missed the season.
There's always an element of inevitability and bad luck when it comes to injuries, but there are other factors too and Smith needs to get to the bottom of that.
Collective desire
When Leeds’ golden generation racked up title after title, the successes were often chiselled on moments of individual brilliance from men such as Danny McGuire, Rob Burrow or Kevin Sinfield. But underpinning every one of their eight Grand Final wins was a unity throughout the side. A willingness to put your head in where it hurts for your team-mates.
The Rhinos, collectively, appear to have lacked that same kind of drive this season – certain players have put in some big shifts but others have gone missing at times. Smith, a positive person by nature, needs to get his men singing off the same hymn sheet.
The Aussie is big on culture and nurturing young players in particular, so he could be just the kind of influence this Leeds squad needs right now.
Greater creativity
The Easter Monday loss at Castleford left Leeds with the worst attack in Super League – a pitiful tally of 149 points scored from ten games is the worst record in the competition so far this season. And to think this was the supposed to be the season that Aidan Sezer and Blake Austin fired the Rhinos back to their former glories.
It has simply not worked out that way and, even though 17-year-old debutant Jack Sinfield showed significant promise on his bow at Wheldon Road, Leeds still lacked creativity. They have done so for much of the season and the partnership between Austin and Sezer has yet to truly click.
Whether or not Smith can get the former Canberra Raiders duo firing remains to be seen, but perhaps that is his greatest challenge.
Backroom staff
During their time working together at Bradford Bulls, Smith and Chev Walker developed a strong bond. Walker was an assistant coach at Odsal throughout Smith’s brief reign and more recently he has been vocal on social media in championing the Australia’s pedigree. Headingley supremo Gary Hetherington would no doubt have spoken to Leeds Academy coach Walker about Smith before appointing him.
Now the former Bradford colleagues have been reunited at Leeds, it will be intriguing to see how things shape up in the Rhinos’ coaching department. It has been stated that the backroom staff – with Sean Long and Jamie Jones-Buchanan as assistant coaches – will stay for the same for now. But given the closeness of Smith and Walker’s relationship, could the former Rhinos centre be given a more pivotal role within the first-team set-up?
Recruitment
It is perhaps too early to be writing off new signings but so far, you'd have to say that what appeared to be an exciting recruitment drive for 2022 has been pretty disastrous so far. Bentley has been suspended for half of the season, Fusitu'a has managed to complete one game and neither Austin or Sezer have hit anything like the level of performances they need to.
Recruitment at Headingley has been hit and miss for years, and there have been plenty of bad ones. You can go back as far as Beau Falloon really. But James Segeyaro caused as many problems as he fixed, Nathaniel Peteru was an underwhelming addition, Tui Lolohea lasted 13 games. Even Konrad Hurrell never justified marquee status. Trent Merrin managed only a season, then there was Kyle Eastmond of course.
Yes, there have been good signings along the way, but they have got too many wrong too. Their strike rate must get better under Smith.
