In the 50th minute of their semi-final against Wigan, everything was going right for the Rhinos.
A superb start to the second half resulted in tries for Jarrod O’Connor – his first for the club – and James Bentley turning around a 4-2 halftime deficit into a 14-4 advantage.
Then Aidan Sezer put a lovely kick in but was hit late by John Bateman who was subsequently shown a red card. Of course, playing against twelve men was another boost for the Rhinos but they lost Aidan Sezer for the rest of the game.
It didn’t matter as the Rhinos went on to win 20-8 but, despite passing his Head Injury Assessment, Sezer was ruled out of the Grand Final against St Helens due to having category 1 symptoms following the clash.
This leaves Rohan Smith with a conundrum in a key position going into the decider. It has been suggested by many that Richie Myler will move into the halves, Zak Hardaker to fullback and Rhyse Martin to second-row but is a major shake-up what Leeds need going into the biggest game of the season?
Alternatively, Smith could name skipper Kruise Leeming in the halves after plenty of good performances in the role in the past. This would allow Brad Dwyer to make his final appearance off the bench for the Rhinos.
18-year-old halfback Jack Sinfield was also named in the squad whilst Corey Johnson was left out. But according to Smith something “drastic” would have to happen for Sinfield to play the final having only just turned 18: “It won’t be Jack at this stage unless something pretty drastic happened between now and then. He’s only a boy, he’s finding his way. He turned 18 yesterday so maybe he’s a man.”
Meanwhile it seems unlikely that it would be Leeming who said when asked if he would be playing in the halves said: “I don’t know, he’s not told me the team yet.”
It would stand to reason that if Leeming was making a position switch he’d know by now to prepare for the role change.
When asked if he’d been preparing to play nine he simply said: “Yeah.”
This could mean Richie Myler starts in the halves however Smith does have another option in Cameron Smith who started in the halves against Wigan.
