Rohan Smith provides Harry Newman future update

Leeds Rhinos fans got a festive feast in the second half of today’s game against Wakefield Trinity as Leeds ran in six tries, five conversions, a drop goal and a partridge in a pear tree turning around a 22-6 deficit into a thrilling 41-22 win over Wakefield Trinity in the Wetherby Whaler Festive Challenge.

Leeds fans then will have enjoyed their Christmas though will have had a rude awakening in a difficult first half against their West Yorkshire rivals.

The only thing that could make their Christmas better is the news that Harry Newman signing a new deal. In the past, Serious About Rugby League revealed the Rhinos were in talks with Newman over a new deal before reporting that Leeds were set to announce new deals for some of their players imminently though they remained unknown.

Leeds fans hoped Newman would be named amongst them and when asked, Smith provided the news that discussions were still ongoing. He said: “Oh, there’s discussions ongoing there, but there’s nothing confirmed yet.”

Leeds fans won’t see Newman in a friendly until they take on Hull KR with Newman likely to be rested against Bradford Bulls as he was today.

Smith explained his approach to the upcoming fixtures:

“Yeah we’ll have a mixed team against Bradford, there’ll be a lot of young players playing that one, but yeah against Hull KR that’ll be the Round 1 plus a few more sort of squad, there’ll be some competition I’d imagine on that day, four spots in round one. But yeah, we’ll be full strength in that game.”

On today’s game itself, Smith said:

“Yeah, I think so. It was a good battle and obviously we had to earn our way back into the game after probably a bizarre most of the first half. There was a lot of young kids, got a good experience there against largely an experienced Wakefield team for a good portion of that game anyway. It wasn’t without blemish that’s for sure but I was happy with the way people stuck together and kept playing and thought we looked fit and sharp in the main.

“In the second half, we strung a few sets together and played pretty direct there and we got a top end dummy half there that exposed some opportunities there on the back of some quality go forwards. We had a decent little patch there. The first half just lacked any rhythm at all. There was penalties, turnovers for play the balls. It had no end to end footy so as soon as there was a little bit of that I thought we looked alright.”