Leeds Rhinos boss provides Brodie Croft injury update, hails Jack Sinfield after win v London

Croft went into the match with more try-assists than any other player in Betfred Super League and got Rhinos up and running with his first touchdown for the club, but was taken off late in the first half and didn’t return to the action.

“Brodie had some tightness in his groin,” Smith said in his post-match press conference. “Let’s hope it’s more precautionary that we made that choice than anything too significant.”

Leeds also lost young winger Riley Lumb just a minute into the game, five days after he scored a brace of tries in a man of the match performance on his debut against Hull FC. Smith revealed: “Lumby’s in pain with a hamstring injury.

“With some of the hamstring injuries we’ve had over the last couple of years, the less painful ones are the longer-term ones. I am hopeful this is a reversal of that.”

Nineteen-year-old scrum-half Jack Sinfield made his first appearance of the season in place of Matt Frawley, was among the try scorers and named the official man of the match. Smith revealed Frawley’s omission was a “selection choice” and said: “Jack has been working hard in the background and I thought it was a good time to get him in there.

“We’ve got a bunch of players out injured so it’s important to build a squad here and have players available that have done the work and are ready to play. We lost some experienced players who have moved on and our depth is young so they need to get opportunities when the opportunities are there.”

Smith added: “I thought Sinny had a good, solid game. He has grown as a young bloke; he obviously got thrown in in tough circumstances a couple of years ago, probably a bit too early I would have thought, but he has grown and progressed a lot since then.

“He is a terrific young bloke, he works hard, takes on criticism and builds his game. He is the ultimate team/squad player at this point and I am really pleased with the way he went about it.

“He stepped forward when Brodie came off and did a bit more, probably, than he would have otherwise, which was a good experience for him. It was his first game in Super League this year so it was a test of his lungs at various times, but he has been playing really well in the reserves.

“I am pleased for him and Alfie Edgell came on after two minutes and played wing which he hasn’t really done before. He did a tremendous job when Lumby came off.”

Frawley joined Rhinos from Canberra Raiders in pre-season on a two-year deal. It was the first time he has been left out, but Smith said: “It would have been good to get Sinny a game before now, but we have been trying to build some cohesion. It was probably time we needed to get [Sinfield] in the mix one way or another.

“I think [a Croft-Sinfield half-back pairing] has potential, they have contrasting styles. Sinny is still a young bloke finding his way so you need to have multiple people who can play in the halves to sustain a season and Jack put his best foot forward tonight.”

Of dropping Frawley, Smith admitted: “Those conversations are always difficult, but as a coach you’ve got to do what you think is right for the group and the club in any given week. Frawls has handled it really well, I’ve got a lot of respect for him and he has got a big job to do for us this season.

“That was the choice we made tonight, but he handled himself like a real pro’ and got behind the other players. Training [on Thursday] was probably as good as it has been all season, the quality of the session and the connection and the general vibe was really strong among the whole squad, not just the blokes who were playing.”

ased with the way he went about it.”