ROHAN SMITH has launched a staunch defence of Leeds Rhinos star Harry Newman and his attitude following the 61-0 hammering by Catalans Dragons at the weekend.
Newman was visibly frustrated towards the back end of that fixture and was sinbinned in the closing stages for a professional foul.
That led to some criticism aimed at Newman on social media, but Smith is having none of it.
“I haven’t seen that on social media, I thought the sinbinning wasn’t correct anyway. Harry made a tackle at the end of a break, Adam Keighran got involved in the tackle and Sam Tomkins helped Harry to stay down. It was an easy sinbin to make with the score and result never in doubt when the crowd roared,” Smith said.
“I think he has shown in that game his actual demeanour and behaviour towards everyone involved, players and referees, that he was very mature and probably the best he has been.
“He is working hard on some stuff and at the game at the weekend he had a number of reasons to be frustrated but he kept his head. The sinbin was a classic case of milking.
“He has made some real progress in the past couple of months, he shows he cares a lot and shows some of his frustrations but that kid tries hard and wants to do his best.”
Smith was then asked whether Newman’s best future prospects remained at Leeds.
“Whilst ever he wants to learn from those errors, he has a big future. Harry was really trying to help his young teammates at the weekend, he was putting his arms around the young players and helping them through it.
“I think our priority is to get him in the team playing as well as he can and then he can showcase all of his abilities. Harry and me have a great relationship and he has a good relationship with his teammates.”
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