Defending Rohan Smith as Leeds Rhinos fans unhappy after bold tactic leads to disaster

Leeds Rhinos fans were not happy in the first half against Wakefield Trinity at AMT Headingley Stadium as the festive cheer and optimism soon dissipated.

This is because Leeds fell 16-0 down within the first quarter of the game thanks to tries for Wakefield from Roman Franco, Matty Ashurst and Max Jowitt but there was a common theme which knitted the three tries together.

The first Leeds fans likely stomached still full of turkey from their Christmas dinner. Leeds attempted a quick passing play inside their own 40 and had the passes stuck Ash Handley would have likely broken down field but the ball slipped out of hands allowing Wakefield to probe and on the last a Myles Lawford kick caught Leeds out behind their defensive line as Roman Franco chased through and grounded it to make it 4-0.

Leeds though instantly had an effort down the other end of the field thanks to a short kick off won back by the Rhinos.

However, they squandered that chance and let Wakefield down field via a penalty from which Wakefield forced a goal line drop out. Leeds again went short but made a mess of it and Wakefield took possession 10 metres out. They then exploited the disarray with a neat ball to Matty Ashurst to make it 8-0.

Max Jowitt converted to make it 10-0 and a minute later he was back converting his own try. This came from another short kick off by Lachie Miller taken by Jowitt who raced away from Miller to score to the fury of Leeds fans.

When Miller kicked off again he went long to the biggest cheer of the afternoon. This was reminiscent of last season when Leeds frequently used short kick offs in pre-season and utilised them at the start of the Super League campaign but their use soon faded throughout the season.

Leeds fans are of course fearing the use of this tactic again which did little for the Rhinos. The Morgan Gannon experiment at halfback did not return.

However, it is very easy to defend this decision from Rohan Smith. How else can you truly practice a short kick off if not in a meaningless game? They are one of the most important skills when starting a comeback or saving a game and it makes sense to use them as much as possible in pre-season.