Rohan Smith gives his verdict on Leigh Leopards

On Saturday, Rohan Smith’s Leeds Rhinos became the first team ever to take on the newly named Leigh Leopards and they came up short against the Leopards thanks to a late try from former Rhino Zak Hardaker.

After the game, the Leeds boss gave his verdict on the Leopards:

“I was very focused on my own team, I didn’t pay any attention to who they picked. I know some of their players very well. By the time we play them next I will have studied them.

“They competed hard, I think on paper they have put together a good roster together.

“They will be competitive but I’m very focused on us.”

More focused on his team, here is his assessment of the Rhinos:

“Good conditioning, good hit out, good tough game.

“Heavy field in the middle so it was good conditioning, we had a decent brand of what we’re trying to create without executing too well. The process stuff was pretty steady today.

“Both halves of the game were pretty hard fought, it’s almost impossible to tell in friendlies when people are coming and going to see what the strength of the opposition is but Gannon and Sinny did well. I was pretty positive with how we played overall.

“I didn’t check the numbers but I would say we didn’t have much field position today but that doesn’t phase us too much. We looked comfortable.

“We had a couple of moment, an interesting pay the ball where the vocab on the referees mic could be interesting.

“But in the end it was a good hard game of football today and that’s what we were concerned about.”