Leeds Rhinos’ Rohan Smith to ‘speak’ to his players after being ‘unsure’ of problems in Salford Red Devils loss

Leeds Rhinos went down 23-8 to Salford Red Devils this afternoon at the AJ Bell Stadium.

It poured cold water on a potential flame emerging at Headingley following the arrival of Rohan Smith and Zak Hardaker and head coach Smith has had his say.

The former Bradford Bulls boss believes that his side let themselves down and that he will now communicate with the players to see how they work.

“I thought we let ourselves down in some critical moments defensively and offensively we weren’t willing to take our time after we created a little bit of inroad and build some pressure,” Smith said to BBC West Yorkshire Sport.

“I’m not too sure why, I need to get to know the players and speak to them individually and see how they think with their decision-making. It’s too early for me to understand why they are making those mistakes.”

Smith believes it was helpful to see his side in action for the first time.

“It’s a different perspective, seeing how they communicate with each other and how they hold their body language. It was helpful as far as moving forward.”

The new boss did see some positives in defeat.

“I thought we defended well in the second-half overall, the return of the bunch of players with five or six coming back. It was positive and credit to the performance staff that all those guys got through.”