Rohan Smith gives update on Leeds Rhinos captaincy and verdict on Kruise Leeming

Rohan Smith has given another update on the Leeds Rhinos captaincy going into 2023.

Since the retirement of Kevin Sinfield in 2015 as a treble winner, Leeds Rhinos have averaged a captain every season.

In 2016 and 2017 Danny McGuire was skipper but as he missed the majority of 2016, the role was mostly Rob Burrow’s.

In 2018, it was Kallum Watkins who took on the role prior to his departure mid way through 2019 as Trent Merrin took on the captaincy until the end of the season.

Going into 2020, Stevie Ward was skipper but his time as captain lasted one game after a concussion against Hull FC ultimately ended his career and saw Luke Gale take on the role until mid 2021 when he was stripped of the captaincy with Matt Prior taking on the role.

Not a lover of the captaincy, he was replaced by Kruise Leeming in 2022 but the hooker became more of a bench player at the end of last year with Jarrod O’Connor starting ahead of him leading to speculation that he could lose the captaincy in 2023.

Today though he did lead the team out as skipper as they took on Wakefield Trinity in a pre-season friendly.

Following this, Smith revealed that there were no immediate plans regarding the captaincy:

“No, and there will be no imminent announcement about the leadership group, captaincy, co-captains, or however else people do it.

“There will no announcement in the short term regarding that.”

He did however have his say on Leeming’s performance and what he wants leadership wise at the club:

“He played well, he’s been training very well. Leadership, I have a lot of different views on leadership. I’m still working out what’s best for this group.”