'New spine, less experience', but Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith excited by prospects for Super League 2024

Rhinos kick-off their pre-season campaign at home to Wakefield Trinity on Boxing Day when signings Lachie Miller, Matt Frawley, Andy Ackers and Mickael Goudemand will make their first appearance. Three other new faces - Paul Momirovski, Brodie Croft and Kieran Hudson - will not be involved in the Christmas fixture and nine men who played in Leeds’ 2023 Betfred Super League campaign have moved on.

Rhinos, who began training on November 6, have already completed a warm weather training camp in Portugal and asked if they are ahead of where they were 12 months ago, Smith insisted: “It’s vastly different to last year, significantly different. We have a whole new spine, but also less experience in our depth this year. That’s clear to see, but the future of the club is in the building.”

Teenagers Jack Smith, Ned McCormack, Fergus McCormack and Ben Littlewood are set to feature on Boxing Day. They - and others including reigning scholarship player of the year Presley Cassell - have been training with the first team, despite not having a squad number “They are very exciting, those boys and there’s a bunch more on their way,” Smith said of the quartet in contention for next week. “We’ve got a group I feel will compete and challenge this year, but also the next group is really building.

“The club depth and succession plan is taking shape and there’s a lot of really exciting young players there. That’s a real positive, those young kids are going to get their opportunities and the first-choice team will be well and truly experienced enough. It will be a matter of getting acquainted with each other and cohesive and going through some tough moments out on the field to really get to know each other.”

The trip to Portugal was part that process and Smith reflected: “The whole thing was really well put together. Rich [Hunwicks, performance director] put a lot of time and energy into organising the content and we spent a lot of time together. We maximised our five days, had a very early start travelling and a very late one returning, so we made the most of our time away.

“The training field content was good, the meeting room content was excellent and the general vibe around the place, the conversations and the way people were enjoying their time together. Cohesion is an important thing for us; we have a new spine and some other key players new to the group as well and it is important we accelerate that as quickly as we can.”

Boxing Day is an opportunity to put seven weeks’ hard work into practice and Smith stressed the new signings are “really looking forward to getting out there”. He noted: “It is Andy Ackers’ birthday on Christmas Day, but he made it really clear at the start how excited he is about getting the opportunity to play on Boxing Day. It is an opportunity for those guys - including three of the four new players in our spine - to get out there and experience a bit of time together.

“There’s a bunch of younger players who will also get an opportunity. It is probably the biggest game of their life for some of them at this point and for some other guys it is a chance to get out there at Headingley and show what they can do and introduce themselves to the fans. The players get sick of tackling each other and running into each other and seeing each other on the other side of the ball, so I think it’s a real opportunity and they are all excited to get out there.”