Leeds Rhinos skipper Cameron Smith had a difficult 2025 season, suffering two long-term injuries, limiting him to just a dozen games across the year.
The captain, who was given that title alongside Ash Handley at the start of the year, lasted just fifteen minutes into round two of the campaign, before a nasty hip drop tackle saw him sidelined for four months.
He reflected on his 2025 season in an interview with BBC Radio Leeds, as he discussed the adversity he has been through over the past 12 months.
“As soon as BA came in, the whole feel of the club and the way we played and everything has just been so positive,” Smith said.
“We finished [2024] okay, once he’d come in charge. The first pre-season that we had under Brad was just amazing. This is what everybody had been asking for, in terms of accountability and the way we want to play and all that.
“I thought I had an amazing pre-season, it was the best I’d ever felt.”
That confidence and momentum for the season ahead was quickly ended by the injury, and after a full ankle reconstruction, he had to work his way back to gaining a place in the team.
By this point, Leeds has brought Kallum Watkins in from Salford, and the England international filled Smith’s 13 role brilliantly in his absence.
Smith reflected on the journey to coming back into the side, and how an injury to the ankle is more damaging than other blows.
He said: “I was so excited for the year and the team that we’ve got an just to be a part of it all and unfortunately that got taken away from me. I think I was out for 14 weeks in total.
“An ankle’s not a nice injury to come back from, because it affects everything. The way you move, you miss out on all the reps that the lads are getting in from playing every week.”
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To make matters worse, once the 27-year-old did find a place in the team, a back injury then saw him ruled out for the remainder of the year, with him only managing to get nine matches in between injuries, and only one of those came from the starting line-up.
He explained: “I found it hard coming back into the team, just because I felt like I’d missed out on a fair chunk of the season.
“It got worse after that, because after I came back, I thought I was playing really well… I sometimes got this little nip in my right leg, as a rugby player it’s just sort of ‘it is what it is’ and you just crack on with it.
“…We played Hull KR away and after the game, I couldn’t move. It was more significant than we thought, but at the time, I’d been for a scan and the scan wasn’t anything ridiculous, it was just how you present and the symptoms.
“We managed it week-to-week and it got to Salford at home, and I was just like ‘that’s enough, I need to get this sorted’.”
The victory over the Red Devils would be the final game of Smith’s 2025 season, as he sat out for Leeds’ final nine games of the year.
There was hope that the loose forward would be able to make a return to the pitch before the season was out, with him and the Leeds’ physios hoping that an epidural procedure would see him able to continue until the end of the year. However, after a scan with a specialist, that notion was quickly shut down, and surgery was required.
He explained: “We went down [to the specialist] and the surgeon told me and Dave, who’s the physio, that there would be no epidural and you need surgery asap. We were both taken back a little bit. We knew it could have potentially been an option, but I couldn’t process at the time that my season was over and that I needed spinal surgery.
“Everything’s been really positive since I’ve had it done, and I’m just grateful that it got sorted pretty quick… Everything’s been all good since then.”
Smith has a testimonial year in 2026, following a decade of service to the Rhinos first team. He has a testimonial fixture set up against Bradford Bulls in January, a game he hopes he will be able to take part in.
Commenting on his progress, he said: “I’ve done a little bit, I’m sort of progressing week to week. I’m doing a little bit with the team and stuff, but I haven’t ticked as many boxes as I need to get back playing quite yet.
“I’m hoping that my first game back will be my testimonial game and I’m just so, so grateful that I’m in and around the team and doing little stuff, like being able to run and play rugby. It’s changed my whole perception of the game and I’m so grateful that I’m back doing my thing.”
