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Rohan Smith unhappy with this in defeat to Hull KR as he expresses confusion over rule

As Leeds Rhinos lost to Hull KR today, Rohan Smith cut a frustrated figure but not so much at his side’s performance.

The Leeds boss was unhappy with the number of stoppages in today’s game as he hoped to get his side up to speed ahead of the first game of the season which comes against the Warrington Wolves a week on Thursday.

As he assessed his side’s performance he spoke about the stoppages:

“Good hit out but we definitely got outplayed but I would say we got a reasonable hit out and conditioning despite the repeated stoppages for injuries that didn’t bring about a replacement even on a day with unlimited interchanges.”

This prompted a question about the green card which is set to be used more commonly in Super League in 2023.

Smith went on to express some confusion about the rule in trial games.

He said: “I didn’t ask about whether it was going to be used in trial games, but I believe that it was agreed that it wasn’t going to be used, or I have since found out.

“But that doesn’t stop that there was a big lengthy stoppages and we’re going into a year that will be critical for our game.

“We had one injury where the referee decided to stop the game because we wanted to continue on so we could get conditioning in a friendly game you want the ball in play.

“You don’t hear a lot much from the RFL over the winter.”

He was also unhappy with what he seemed to think were soft yellow cards for both sides:

“It would be good if someone from the RFL told me what I was allowed to comment on but Lachlab Coote, you could see the divot where he slipped over. Everyone today seemed to slip when they changed direction.

“He is probably less than half is normal height when his head hits Aidan’s arm.

“Not only was it a complete accident, he apologised and there is a whole keep and carry on, if that is what our game has come to that there’s going to be a push and shove over that kind of high tackle, then I don’t know.

“It is a practice game, so is that a sin bin? I haven’t looked at the tackle on Richie Myler but he said he was fine. What are we doing putting people in the bin for them if they’re not like legit, in a practice game in particular.

“We’re not using the green card but we’re using the yellow card.”

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