Leeds Rhinos boss gives Cam Smith ban verdict and names surprise captain

Leeds Rhinos boss Brad Arthur has given his verdict on suspended captain Cam Smith and revealed who will take the armband in his absence.

After the Round 20 loss to Salford Red Devils, Smith was handed a one-game ban for a Grade B ‘Head Contact’ charge, something that the Rhinos decided not to appeal.

It marks the first game that Smith will miss this season and at his press conference, the Leeds Rhinos boss has come out in defence of his captain and revealed how he plans to replace him.

“To be fair to Cameron, I don’t think he’s a dirty player and as far as I know he hasn’t got a bad record judiciary-wise,” Arthur told the media ahead of Leeds’ clash with Wigan.

“I didn’t think there was much in it so I didn’t think it was worthy of a week suspension, put it that way. I’ve seen plenty of those tackles while I’ve been here.

“Now Jarrod (O’Connor) comes in and he’ll play that 13 role and it gives him a chance to start and see what he can do for the team.”

Who will captain Leeds Rhinos?

It also left Arthur with the task of appointing a new captain for the game with Smith having led the team all season, appointed by Rohan Smith earlier in the year after the Rhinos controversially did not appoint one in 2023.

Brad Arthur has now revealed that Matt Frawley will be the next man to have the honour of being Leeds Rhinos captain with the coach offering high praise for the playmaker who had been subject to criticism from fans earlier in the year.

Arthur explained: “I spoke to him this morning about it and I feel like he’s the one that’s been running the team around the field and owning how we need to play.

“His first two games for us were really good and he was okay last week but in his first two games he really controlled the game and he’s nice and calm and seems like the obvious choice.”

Arthur quipped that nothing would actually change for Frawley, bar the coin toss, but then offered insight as to why he chose the former Huddersfield man as his skipper.

“Nothing really changes for him and what we need him to do except he’s got to flick the coin at the start of the game and choose whether we receive the kickoff or which way we run.

“He’s been leading us around the field but he’s got a good demeanour about him. I saw some good leadership qualities in him on Wednesday at the end of the training session where we didn’t quite get something right and he walked them all back and said ‘No, let’s go back and do it again’. That was good.”

Leeds Rhinos will take on Wigan Warriors this afternoon in a 3pm kick-off at Headingley.