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Eddie and Stevo reveal the difference between Rohan Smith and Richard Agar at Leeds Rhinos

A few months ago, Leeds Rhinos were in a bit of a pickle.

With Leeds head coach Richard Agar stepping down following a run of one win and six defeats, the West Yorkshire club was taken over on an interim basis by club legend Jamie Jones-Buchanan.

The former forward galvanised the Rhinos until new head coach Rohan Smith was appointed after a lengthy period of time.

Chief executive Gary Hetherington had gone to Australia in order to find a new boss and was struck by Norths Devils head coach Smith, so much so, that he brought him back to the UK with a three-and-a-half year deal.

And, for former Sky Sports pundits Eddie Hemmings and Mike ‘Stevo’ Stephenson, there is one major difference between Smith and former boss Richard Agar.

“There was talk earlier in the year that Leeds may be a contender to be relegated, that’s how bad they were, they were struggling,” Stevo said on theĀ Eddie and Stevo podcast.

“When (Richard) Agar said he had enough, Leeds realised that they had got rid of a coach that had won the Challenge Cup. They had a good squad and then for some unknown reason they seemed to lose that cohesion and (Rohan) Smith has brought back a different attitude.

“Agar said the players needed a new voice and I’ve got huge credit for Agar for doing that. That takes some doing for a coach to give away a plum job at the Leeds Rhinos and it has worked for them.”

Agar will be, of course, the assistant at the New Zealand Warriors from 2023 onwards after taking up a coaching role within the Toa Samoa outfit for the end of season’s World Cup.

The former Wakefield Trinity and Hull FC boss will be remembered at Headingley for winning the Challenge Cup back in 2020 in an empty Wembley Stadium following the Covid-19 pandemic.

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