Rohan Smith made his first appearance at Headingley today, addressing the media for the first time since flying over from Australia.
Smith has been coaching the Norths Devils for almost five years in the second tier of Australian rugby league, but signed a three-and-a-half years deal with the Leeds Rhinos as the club attempts to rekindle the good times at Headingley.
First things first, though, Smith wants to get to know everyone.
“First thing is getting to know everyone and building those relationships which is key for performance and player/coach relationships,” Smith said.
“I will be spending time with the staff and getting to know the existing systems and structures and adding my own into that.
“It might be me fitting in the existing structures in some capacity, but I want to sit down and have a detailed chat and that will help me to help them.”
The former Bradford Bulls boss believes that discipline can be improved at Leeds.
“Sometimes in a contact sport there are going to be the odd indiscretions and that is somewhat unavoidable but being disciplined is something the teams I’ve always coached have been.
“We will be working with individuals as well as the collective group because it (an indiscretion) can impact that current match but also in future weeks.
“Players who don’t need to be playing every week are playing every week – no one goes out there to get suspended.
“There’s a mix of learning lessons and learning the impact on the group.
“I’m excited and open minded and I will try and take in as much as I can and get to know everyone as well as I can.”
Smith also wants to coach his side to score more points.
“There are some aspects of how we play that we can build on pretty quickly – the defence has been pretty strong of late and scoring some more points will be a priority going forward.
“I will be working through a strategy with the coaches tomorrow, they know the group better than I do.
“I will be guided by the players a little bit and the coaching staff – one of my strengths is being adaptable and being able to read the room.”