For the second time this season Rohan Smith’s Leeds Rhinos will take on his uncle Tony Smith’s Hull FC side.
The Black and Whites haven’t won since their Round Two win over the Rhinos and last week were beaten 40-0 by their biggest rivals Hull KR.
Speaking ahead of the game, Rohan Smith gave his honest assessment of the Black and Whites:
“Obviously they’ve had a difficult time of it in recent times, they’ve put a lot of energy into games. We spoke this morning about how they’re trying really hard and that things can turn so it’s our job to make things difficult for them and at least match them for energy and not open any doors or windows for them to have a look in.”
He was also asked he has spoken to his Uncle Tony: “No I haven’t, we had a few messages last week but not this week. We’ll have a good catch up on Friday after the game.”
Meanwhile, reflecting on the loss to Hull FC earlier in the season, Smith said:
“We let ourselves down in a few areas there, defensively we lacked a bit of connection on a few occasions and their willingness to play, as all of Tony’s teams have over the years that when they see an opportunity there’s a green light to throw the pass, and they did and created a few more opportunities than we’d have liked.
“I think that was probably the biggest thing we could have learned from that game, there was a few other things. We had them under some pressure early in the game and didn’t take our chances, we made some poor choices close to their line where we probably needed to exploit some space on the edges.
“That game also feels like a long time ago so it’s a new one on Friday night.”
