Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith reveals all on Nene Macdonald departure, potential Salford move, his replacement and why English market is difficult

LEEDS RHINOS head coach Rohan Smith has revealed all on Nene Macdonald’s exit from the club, his potential move to the Salford Red Devils, his replacement at Headingley and the difficulty with the English market.

Macdonald’s exit from the Rhinos was confirmed this week, with the PNG international centre initially returning home in August before failing to return after the birth of his child.

Now Smith has explained why it “didn’t look positive” about the prospect of Macdonald staying at Headingley.

“Once he didn’t come back initially, it didn’t look positive in that short-term of being able to contribute at the back end of the season and that was the focus at the time,” Smith said.

“I’ve kept myself out of it and left it to Gary (Hetherington – chief executive) and Nene’s management. I’m glad we’ve got a resolution and that provides us with an opportunity to strengthen our squad. We are in the mix so I’m looking forward to closing something out there soon.

“It hasn’t gone to plan but you’d say but that’s the nature of life and sport at times. You have to get on without him and we did at the time, but I’m really excited about what’s ahead. A replacement player will come in soon.”

Smith did explain why the English market is difficult to recruit from.

“It’s very difficult in the English market as there are some great English players but the depth of talent is not there as it is in teh NRL so it’s most likely that position will be a quota player.

“At this stage it is a centre, you can only do with players that are available. We are speaking to a few centres and other positions but I envisage Rhyse will be back in the back-row as his first position next year.”

The Leeds boss does envisage that all new signings will be made by the time pre-season comes around in November.

“I think the signings will be in place by return of pre-season but with the availability of visas and entering the country, they probably won’t be here at the start.”

In recent days, Macdonald has been linked with a move to Salford – something which would shock Smith.

“I don’t think anything surprises me but what would be as close to a surprise as it comes.

“I only had a couple of text messages right at the week he wasn’t coming back but that’s the only correspondence we have had.”

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