Leeds Rhinos were a small part of the disciplinary problems in Round One.
They saw Paul Momirovski sin binned after a massive delay only to not receive a ban whilst Salford Red Devils lost Ryan Brierley to a sin bin as part of the head contact clamp down. He was subsequently banned.
The bans this week have caused widespread uproar across the sport and even talk of a strike from Rugby League Live who have said that there is talk among players of a potential strike.
Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith addressed this in his press conference: “No, that’s certainly not come across my radar. And I live in my own little bubble outside of the Rhinos. So I’m not aware of what’s happening out there.
“Certainly, we haven’t been discussing anything like that. The players are eager to get out there and play. You know, they want to be striking.”
Leeds Rhinos boss reflects on Round One
Warrington Wolves v Leeds Rhinos – Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington, England – Leeds Rhinos head coach Rohan Smith
Smith was also quick to reflect on the win over Salford Red Devils as some suggested that it was disappointing that Leeds didn’t win by more.
He said: “We played against a good team, well coached and they competed very hard last week. I think people are making judgments around our opposition last week without having seen them play. It’s a week-to-week proposition.
“I liked the composure of our spine last week and our whole team to be honest. There’s lots of reasons in that game to get frustrated or agitated but we stayed on task and I thought we did enough to win. I expect that we will get better in that cohesiveness, we had six new players in our starting team last week, so it goes beyond the spine. We’ll get better in time and hopefully that starts on Thursday.”
He also had his say on the brilliant Ash Handley try: “I think the way that my teams traditionally play in yardage is different to the majority of other teams. So there is more scope and potential for long-range strikers and Ash certainly has the ability of being able to finish off those opportunities.
“Some of the footwork and the movement patterns there that he’s done, he’s been working on in training, which is, that’s probably the most impressive part of it. Like, he’s been practicing that stuff with our coaches and then, you know, he got an opportunity in round one to execute it, which was nice.”
