Leeds Rhinos: Mathers expects Smith to ‘build from ground up’ at Headingley

Smith coached Bulls during their 2016 Championship campaign but left a season into a three-year contract after the club went into liquidation.

Mathers has been coached by two generations of the Smith family, having won a Super League Grand Final under Rohan’s uncle, Tony Smith, with Leeds in 2004.

Though Rohan Smith is not the big name many Rhinos fans had been hoping for, Mathers had identified him on social media as an ideal candidate after Richard Agar resigned a month ago.

“It is a great long-term appointment to build the club back to what it should be,” the former full-back said of the 40-year-old who joins Leeds from Queensland Cup outfit Norths Devils.

Mathers, a self-confessed Leeds fan who is also a voluntary coach working with full-backs in Rhinos’ scholarship, was hugely impressed with Smith during his short stint at Bradford, despite their fifth-place finish in the second tier.

“I could see the potential in him then, as a young head coach,” he recalled.

“He had a really different philosophy; I don’t want to compare him to Tony Smith, but he was in a similar mold of having a different way of viewing the game.

“He’s not your standard rugby league brain, he is a very, very deep, holistic thinker - not just about rugby league and winning games, but also human performance, psychology...

“The style of play he wanted to play very much reminded me of how Tony wanted us to play and what I liked about him was the whole ‘build the club from the foundations up’ ethos.

“Look at the restrictions and duress he worked under at Bradford; there were some appalling off-field circumstances, which weren’t his fault, but he never wavered away from his principles of performance and culture.

“If there’s anyone who can bring back the Leeds culture, Rohan absolutely fits that model.”

Mathers reckons coaching Rhinos is “the biggest job in the game, without a doubt” and stressed - with Leeds sitting second from bottom in Betfred Super League and having won just once in 10 competitive games this year - it won’t be an overnight fix.

“He will have all the resources he needs,” Mathers said.

“He had absolutely the opposite of that at Bradford and made such a difference culturally.

“He will set the culture right from the bottom up and, for me, that’s what it needs - then the results take care of themselves.”

Defeat to Toulouse Olympique tomorrow would leave Rhinos a point adrift at the foot of the table and Mathers warned: “Right now, we just need results.

“It is not going to get better overnight but it [Smith’s appointment] will set some standards and cultures and get people onboard within the organisation very quickly. This is a long-term appointment and, for all my excitement about Rohan, this squad of players need to look at themselves and pull together.

“The young lads have been outstanding and it’s time for some of the senior boys to stand up and become leaders and get us out of this mess.

“He is not going to come in and change it overnight.

“It is a fabulous long-term appointment but the 17 players who represent the club need to look at themselves because there’s no excuses.

“The squad is as good as it has been for a number of years.

“Yes, there’s injuries and suspensions, but there needs to be some leaders out there.”