'I'm not quite where I want to be' - Cameron Smith determined to rise up Leeds Rhinos rankings

Back-rower Cameron Smith revealed the squad made a pledge to return in top condition following their loss to Catalans Dragons in the Betfred Super League play-offs exactly two months ago.

“Everything is good, we are flying at the minute,” Smith said of Rhinos’ first week in pre-season.

“Everyone has come back in tip-top shape.

“We made a decision at the end of last year to hold ourselves accountable and make sure we turned up ready to go and that was certainly the case.

“Everybody seems ready and hungry for this season.”

Smith said motivation was high after Leeds fell at the first hurdle in the 2020 play-offs.

“Last year we didn’t end the seasons on the terms we wanted to,” he conceded.

“Obviously, we won the Challenge Cup, which was awesome, but we didn’t want our season to end when it did.

“We made a conscious effort to make sure we kept ourselves accountable and turned up ready to go on day one of pre-season.

“Everyone has done that, everyone’s in good shape and really excited.”

Covid-permitting, Super League is scheduled to begin on March 11, but Smith insisted: “From a team point of view, at the minute we are just focusing on us getting better as a group, day by day.

“We aren’t really looking too far into the future.

“When the season starts we will be ready to go.

“From an individual point of view, I am just taking it day by day and making sure I can better myself every day.”

At just 22, Smith is preparing for his seventh season in Rhinos’ first team squad.

He has been awarded the number 17 jersey for 2021, having worn 22 last year, but accepts he needs to be better this term.

“I am very humbled and blessed to be able to get into the one-17 squad numbers for Rhinos, which is a huge achievement for myself,” he said.

“But on the flip side of that, I am not quite where I want to be just yet.

“Obviously I want to wear a different number for this club at some point in my career.

“Maybe I am not ready for that yet, but I want to be in the one to 13 and hopefully for a long period of time too.

“Hopefully this is just a stepping stone to what’s to come.”

Smith already has 57 senior games under his belt for Leeds, but feels he will benefit from the experience of a rollercoaster past 12 months.

“I am a year better now,” he reflected.

“I thought I started the season really well last year, but I had a little step back and I didn’t really quite find my form after that.

“I am ready to start afresh and hopefully rip in this year and pick up from where I started off last year, if not better.”

Smith was ever-present before suffering a broken jaw during a training session in August, but then had to cope with the disappointment of not being selected for the Cup final, despite being named in the initial 21-man squad.

He admitted: “I think a lot of it was just timing.

“I broke it at substantial part of the year, the Challenge Cup was coming up and I didn’t quite get enough metres into my legs and minutes under my belt.

“I just couldn’t quite find the form after that. There probably was a lack of consistency in my game, but I am a year better now, I know what the standard is and hopefully I am going to take it week by week and get better and better.”

As a side, winning the cup and finishing fifth in the table suggested Rhinos have turned a corner after the previous two poor seasons.

“We are still a fairly young team,” Smith said.

“If we stick together for a number of years, hopefully we are only destined for success.”

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