Not a crisis yet, but changes needed: Leeds Rhinos talking points after Warrington Wolves setback

The 34-8 home loss to Warrington Wolves was Rhinos’ third successive defeat at AMT Headingley and coach Rohan Smith and his players have a lot to work on before their next match, at home to Huddersfield Giants on Friday, April 19. Here’s five talking points.

1: Glass half full.

There’s a lot of negativity surrounding Rhinos at the moment, but much of it is an overreaction. Yes, it was a bad defeat by Warrington and a poor performance, but it came eight days after a professional effort and good win at Castleford Tigers.

Rhinos’ problem at the moment is a lack of consistency, rather than them being a poor side and they are in a division where most teams are quite evenly-matched. Leeds are capable of handing out that sort of hammering to one of the rivals around them on the table and probably will at some point this year.

A quarter of the way through the campaign they are out of the Challenge Cup and eighth in the table, which isn’t good enough, but there’s still a long way to go, Leeds have shown in patches what they are capable of and a couple of wins could have them back up in the top-four. Things aren’t going as well as Rhinos would have hoped, but it’s not a crisis scenario yet.

2: Rohan Smith.

The coach is under pressure, certainly from fans and better and more consistent performances and results are required, but do Rhinos need another mid-season change of leadership? Two years ago the club conducted an extensive search for a new team boss and Rohan Smith, who is under contract until the end of 2025, was who they came up with. There is no point going through that again unless someone who will do a better job is available, or it’s clear Smith can’t take them any further. At the moment, neither is the case.

After 23 months and a major turnover of players the buck stops with him, but it’s too early to say Smith has failed. He guided them to a final in his first season, there’s no relegation to worry about and Rhinos are well capable of climbing the couple of places they need to qualify for the play-offs, from which anything can happen.

If Rhinos don’t improve on last year’s eighth-place, with players recruited by Smith, a decision will have to be made at the end of this campaign. But it was clear when he started this was a long-term project and he deserves more time to see the job through.

3: Caught short.

That said, if something clearly isn’t working, it has to be changed. Rhinos aren’t at that point with the coach, but he obviously needs to look at the way Leeds play and make adjustments. There’s always room for innovation, but tactics like short kick-offs aren’t effective when the opposition knows what’s coming. Leeds conceded a couple of tries that way against Warrington, when kicking deep and defending seemed a better policy.

Though opposing teams are making too many metres, leaking points hasn’t been a major problem this year, it’s scoring them that’s the issue. Stand-off Brodie Croft is a class act, but Rhinos need to play to his strengths. Attacking from deep and scoring long-range tries is good to watch when it works, but Leeds don’t spend enough time close to the opposition’s line. That comes from being more aggressive in defence.

4: 17-man game.

When Ash Handley suffered a rib injury in the first half against Warrington, Rhyse Martin was shifted from the pack to centre and Paul Momirovski moved to the left-wing. That was despite Rhinos having a three-quarter, Ned McCormack, on the bench.

It was 19-year-old McCormack’s first time in the 17 and he did get on in the final quarter, but surely it would have been better to use him earlier, with less shuffling around. Having an outside-back among the substitutes makes sense if Martin starts at centre, but less so when he’s in the second-row.

Handley’s injury is a blow. He hasn’t scored in the last four games, after a prolific start to the campaign, but Leeds will miss his strong carries out of yardage. The good news is Leeds’ other first-choice winger David Fusitu’a is likely to be available for the next game.

5: 50-50s.

Rhinos never looked like beating Warrington, but Momirovski’s ‘no try’ early in the second half, after Leeds had cut the gap to eight points, was a big moment. Referee Aaron Moore thought Momirovski had scored, but video assistant Tom Grant ruled a double-movement. Supposedly, he needed clear evidence to overturn the on-field decision, but the time it took suggested there was at least some doubt. It’s time to limit the number of replays available to the video ref and if he’s not sure after a couple of looks, go with the on-field call. Still, at least Rhinos got a set-restart against Warrington, their first in three games.