Leeds Rhinos coach hails 'brave acts', praises fans, makes 'further ahead' claim after vital win at Salford

Sunday’s 16-14 result at Salford Red Devils lifted Rhinos a place to seventh in the table and they are now just two points outside the play-offs.

A Salford victory would have seen them open a six-point gap and that seemed likely after they turned a 12-4 half-time deficit into a 14-12 lead, but two penalty goals turned the game Rhinos’ way.

Leeds’ third successive win - something they hadn’t achieved since last September - completed a weekend during which lowly Huddersfield Giants won at leaders Catalans Dragons and bottom club Wakefield Trinity shocked high-flying Wigan Warriors.

Reflecting on Rhinos’ result, Smith told his post-match press conference: “They all feel like big wins in my head; every one of them, all the way back to when I first started head-coaching a long time ago.

“They are all massive. I know [about the] standing on the table, but there is so long to go. It has been another weekend of twists and turns in Super League, which is great for the competition and for fans of all clubs.

“Every game is literally a contest for two points and the better everyone believes in that and thrives on that and enjoys it, the better our sport is - rather than preempting results based on ladder position.,

“We have had some tough periods of this season, but we’ve never been that far off the mark. We are in a little patch of finding a way, but it counts for nothing on Friday - it is on again and Hull KR are going to be desperate.”

Rhinos finished fifth on the 2022 table after winning nine of their last 11 regular season games, but asked if there is the same feeling to last year, Smith replied with emphatic “no”.

He insisted: “I think we are further ahead as an actual footy team than this time last year.

“That is the only reflection you are going to get out of me. That was today’s performance, we have got a short turnaround to Hull KR before we’ve got a break so we will be hungry coming into that next opportunity on Friday.”

Assessing Sunday’s game, Smith admitted it could have gone either way, but felt his men deserved their win.

“It was a good contest,” Smith said. “They are two teams who like to do it a bit differently from the attacking side of things, but in the end it was scrambling, committed defensive work which made the game the contest it was.

“There was a lot of 50-50 plays and drama in the game and it was one of those that would have been great on television.

“It was pleasing to find a way to win in a good, hard battle which could have gone either way.”

All three of Salford’s tries came from kicks by their Man of Steel stand-off Brodie Croft. Smith said: “Aside from that, we’ve had another game where there’s no tries [conceded] from running play.

“They are a quality team who ask a lot of questions of your defensive line. I was really pleased with the way we stuck together at the back end.

“It was a tricky situation with lots of bits and bobs going on, but we held our nerve, we played

together and I think we deserved that win. It was a good, gritty hang in there-type performance across the board.”

Smith saluted Leeds’ supporters for playing a key role at the back end of the game. He added: “People kept turning up, we defended our goal line well - brave acts because they were desperate to get a result.

“I thought the travelling fans were immense as well. They were rewarding the players from the opening stages of the game and we kept feeding off that.”