IF ever there was a tale of two halves of a season then it was the Leeds Rhinos during Super League 2022.
Starting woefully under former head coach Richard Agar, the West Yorkshire club lost six of their opening seven games under the ex-Hull FC and Wakefield Trinity boss.
That led to Agar stepping down with club legend Jamie Jones-Buchanan taking over on an interim basis with Rohan Smith eventually being appointed as the permanent head coach.
At the time, the appointment by chief executive Gary Hetherington raised eyebrows given Smith’s low profile, yet this was a coach that had just won the Queensland Cup Grand Final with Norths Devils and whose respect throughout the game made him an ideal candidate to take Leeds forward.
Even the staunchest of Leeds fans, however, could not have expected what did actually happen with Smith inspiring a Rhinos squad that had previously been void of confidence to the Super League Grand Final.
Though the Rhinos eventually lost out to reigning champions St Helens, the transformation throughout the season was incredible to say the least and now Leeds supporters are hoping that Smith’s men will pick up where they left off last season.
Whilst other Super League clubs have gone for big names in terms of recruitment, Leeds and Smith have done things slightly different, bringing in a mix of youthful vibrancy and players with a point to prove including former Salford Red Devils and Leigh Leopards winger Luis Roberts, ex-Gold Coast Titans forward Sam Lisone, Toulouse man Justin Sangare, Batley Bulldogs fullback Luke Hooley, York forward Toby Warren, Doncaster starlet Leon Ruan, James McDonnell from the Wigan Warriors and Castleford Tigers back Derrell Olpherts.
With Nene MacDonald’s signing now confirmed, that will likely finish Smith’s recruitment for 2023. But, how could Leeds line up next season with this in mind? (Numbers below do NOT represent squad numbers whilst those highlighted in bold represent new signings).
1 Richie Myler
2 David Fusitu’a
3 Harry Newman
4 Nene MacDonald
5 Ash Handley
6 Blake Austin
7 Aidan Sezer
8 Mikolaj Oledzki
9 Kruise Leeming
10 Zane Tetevano
11 James Bentley
12 Rhyse Martin
13 Cameron Smith
Substitutes
14 Jarrod O’Connor
15 Sam Lisone
16 Morgan Gannon
17 Justin Sangare