LEEDS RHINOS head coach Rohan Smith has addressed where his side went wrong during the 2023 Super League season.
The Rhinos were off the boil for much of the year, finishing outside the play-offs just a year after making it all the way to Old Trafford.
For Smith, he was in a contemplative mood.
“There’s lots of ways to look at this season. There was a lot of good done behind the scenes, a lot of progression made with the younger players on their journey,” Smith said.
“Cohesion was a problem with the turbulence of players not being available, some people moving on, a few poor performances amongst it, but only a few I thought given the circumstances I thought we did a good job with the people we had on the field of times. A year of learning for sure.
“We haven’t collectively reflected as a whole squad, they’ve had exit medicals and reviews on an individual basis from performance and coaching wise.
“Very honest assessments, the players that are returning have a good gauge on where they need to improve and where they’re at which is always a very good sign.”
Smith also gave a lowdown on the fitness of his Leeds players.
“Justin (Sangare) had an operation on his ankle and he’s almost back in full training, there’s a couple of little ones getting checked out but it’s unlikely they’ll be any serious surgeries.
“Richie Myler is back running, Justin is back, almost in full training. Max Simpson is an ongoing thing. Luis Roberts is back running, James Bentley is still going through his return-to-play protocol from his concussion.”
The Leeds boss explained why his side will be doing some things differently in pre-season for 2024.
“Certainly, every season is different, in the middle of October we were playing an international team, we had seven or eight players in the World Cup so we used the opportunity to expose players to different positions and pre-season games for young guys.
“There’s definitely some things we’ll do differently but we’ll be a vastly different squad. I’m very excited by the roster proposition but also the staff we have who almost everyone was in a new role, so we’re a better unit moving forward.
For Smith, the aim is to compete and challenge for silverware.
“I don’t really like comparing seasons, we want to compete and challenge for trophies, that’s where we will be setting out the season.
“A lot of things have to line up to do that, history and external expectations don’t help with those things so we’ve got to work hard, build a cohesive group and attack it.
“What this season has shown is that it’s a very difficult competition, it’s been a hard-fought Super League and not big margins.
“We haven’t been that far away from being in that play-off series but we’re a long way from where we want to be.”
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