Leeds Rhinos boss points to 'very good' spells, makes 'harsh lessons' pledge for Hull FC showdown

Rhinos head to Hull FC on Sunday having lost five of their nine competitive fixtures in 2024, including last week’s 30-24 home defeat by Huddersfield Giants when they twice squandered a 12-point lead. Pressure will ramp up if Leeds can’t beat second-bottom Hull, but Smith says he has seen enough from his eighth-placed team to suggest they will climb the Betfred Super League ladder.

“We need to get out there and play well,” Smith said of Sunday’s challenge. “We were really disappointed with the outcome last week and certain parts of that performance just weren’t good enough. We weren’t able to scramble enough to do a job.

“We had lots of different edge combinations in that second half and just didn’t do it well enough. We weren’t urgent enough at times, but at half-time I think the majority of the fan base - and us ourselves - would have thought we were playing well.

“We’ve shown we can play well and for good chunks, but we need to eradicate some of those patches of poor [play], which really undid the good work we did in the first half last week. The down periods were a bit too far down to be able to get an outcome.”

Rhinos have been inconsistent from match to match and within games this year. Smith admitted: “Ideally you don’t want your best and worst performances to be too far apart, but we know our good patches and good performances are very good.

“That’s exciting and really positive for the players, that when it’s flowing it is really good. We are still a new group, this is a new way of doing things with a vastly different team and we are nine games in.

“It is important you go through some tough times and some adversity, that’s how teams are built. We are disappointed and not happy with the way we missed some opportunities to get some more results, but we are also positive about the periods when we have been good.”

He added: “It takes time to gel as a team and you only really do that when you’ve been through some tough periods and tough times. Smooth sailing doesn’t make for great sailors so we are fighting through those things and taking some lessons.

“Every week is an opportunity to learn and we have taken some harsh lessons out of last week but we played against a team who played very well. It’s not as simple as doing what you want to do all the time, you have got to combat the opposition and their strengths.”

Hull have lost eight of their nine league and cup games this year and are without a coach after Tony Smith - Rohan’s uncle - left earlier this month. Simon Grix is now in caretaker charge alongside ex-Leeds player Francis Cummins and Smith said: “They are under a new regime and they may use the long turnaround to implement some changes in how they are going to play.

“We aren’t exactly sure what they are going to throw at us, but they have got some good players and will be desperate to get a good performance back at home. Hull is somewhere we are excited to go; it is a great stadium and great surface and we look forward to getting out there and giving our best account.”