Hull KR boss Tony Smith reacts to speculation that he could join Leeds Rhinos at the end of the year

When Hull KR head coach Tony Smith announced he would be leaving Craven Park at the end of 2022, a number of people were gobsmacked.

Here was a head coach that had transformed Rovers from perennial strugglers to silverware hunters – and the job has not yet been finished.

After Tony announced his departure, it was up to his nephew Rohan to take the Leeds Rhinos job.

With people putting two and two together, Tony was linked with a move to Headingley at the end of 2022, but that’s not the case for him.

“As soon as Richard Agar resigned, I started getting inquiries about my future and that was over a month ago,” Smith said.

“Since then, all that I’ve done is express I wasn’t going to be here by any means at the end of the year.”

For Tony, it means he is able to focus more on winning current games than before.

“It’s simply: I’m not going to coach at Hull KR beyond the year, so for now that means I will prepare my team the best I can to win as often as we can and that’s my responsibility.

“It’s freed me up a whole lot to prepare my team as best I can.”

Of course, with the family connection, there had been some contact about Rohan taking the Leeds job, but this was minimal, Tony has revealed.

“He sent me a text and asked me if there was ever a reason why he shouldn’t take that job and I said there is no reason why – I thought it would be a great fit for him and the club,” Smith continued.

“From that moment, it took some time before he was accepted and when he got the job and we didn’t communicate because I didn’t want to put him in a position where he would have to tell me a non-truth or a fib.

“Having worked with Gary Hetherington before, he has a famous saying – if more than two people know then it’s not a secret anymore so I didn’t want to ask Rohan if he was getting that job or not and I didn’t want to put him in an awkward position.”