Rohan Smith reveals why Jack Sinfield didn’t play today and gives verdict on Morgan Gannon experiment

One of the most interesting stories in pre-season has been the supposed strange positional switch of Leeds Rhinos second-row Morgan Gannon into the halves.

Speaking ahead of today’s friendly against Wakefield Trinity, Rohan Smith opened up on this positional switch:

“Morgan is a very talented young player, he has a really wise, mature head on his shoulders. He played in the halves as a young man but as coaches do we moved him into the forwards based on how he grew.

“Morgan has a really diverse range of skills, he is a clever kid on and off the field. We are giving him the opportunity to show what he has got.”

Gannon started in the halves and even got himself a try as an inexperienced Leeds side lost out to Trinity 38-20.

But what did Smith make of this experiment:

“You guys may call it an experiment but I think every thing an experiment because you’re always trying to make something better.”

It was interesting to see him start there whilst young halfback Jack Sinfield was not included at all having debuted for Leeds in last year’s Boxing Day friendly.

Today, Rohan Smith revealed why Sinfield didn’t feature today:

“Jack had a groin issue a couple of weeks ago that helped him back out of training for 10 to 12 days then he had an illness on the back of that.

“He’s sort of back to full training, but for an 18 year old kid I wasn’t going to put him out.”

Previously, when asked what 2023 will hold for Sinfield, Smith said:

“That will be up to Jack’s performances and the way he goes. He’s still a young man, he’s got a very mature head on his shoulders and he has experienced players in Aidan Sezer, Blake Austin and Richie Myler in front of him.

“He understands he’s on a journey and he is improving but there’s no set plan. It will be down to how he plays and what the team plays.”