LEEDS RHINOS head coach Rohan Smith believes his side is currently a ‘work in progress’ following two opening defeats in two games.
After going down to Warrington Wolves in round one, Leeds went down 22-18 at home to Hull FC, but Smith was keen to stress the new group he had at his disposal.
When asked when his side will be firing on all cylinders, Smith replied: “I’m not Nostradamus that’s for sure. It’s about trying to find a good level of performance each week. You get enough good results each week to be firing on full cylinders at the end of the year,” Smith said.
“Some teams start like a house on fire then fall in a heap. It hasn’t been all bad.
“We’ve not played together a lot, our spine hardly played together last year. We are just trying to evolve and improve from week to week and finding out who are best players are.
“They haven’t been at their best clearly but neither has the team. I’m of the belief that the team decides how the halves play equally as much a the halves determine how the team plays.”
One player who will be out is Morgan Gannon with the forward failing his HIA in the defeat to Hull FC.
“He had no symptoms after the game, he felt fine and to my knowledge he has had no issues and is going through the return to play process,” Smith continued.
“It’s disappointing for Ganno to not get into the rhythm and consistency but people get bumps at all different stages.”
Smith also gave an update on James Bentley as well as outlining three players that will be playing reserves tomorrow night.
“James is close and training really well. We will see how he goes through today’s session to see if he plays a role on Friday.
“People have seen James play enough to know what he is about, he’s a great competitor, fit and everything what we want to be distributing as a team. We want him to be that competitive character that he is
“Leon and Luis are playing reserves tomorrow night having not played last week so will Jack Sinfield.”
