Leeds Rhinos: Rohan Smith on why coaching was always his destiny and how he learned from the best

Leeds Rhinos’ new coach, Rohan Smith, was born into rugby league, but has forged his own path to one of the sport’s biggest clubs.

Though he didn’t play professionally, Smith, 41, has been around the top level of the game for as long as he can remember.

His father, Brian Smith, coached in Super League – including at Bradford Bills and Wakefield Trinity – and Australia’s NRL.

Uncle Tony Smith is the current Hull KR boss, having led Rhinos to Grand Final wins in 2004 and 2007 and also had spells with Huddersfield Giants, Warrington Wolves and England.

It was perhaps inevitable, then, that Rohan would always see coaching as his career goal.

“In 2001, 2002 I did a bit of scouting work for Daniel Anderson and in 2003 I moved to the [New Zealand] Warriors,” he recalled.

“Essentially I was like an apprentice coach, doing a lot of video work and basically helping Ando, learning off him.

“I coached a lot of the good young kids they had at the club at the time, in the academy sort of set up and when I came to England in 2004 I worked for Tony Rea at the London Broncos for two and a half years.

“I was 21 when I went to the Warriors and I loved playing, but I had a couple of shoulder reconstructions as a kid and probably didn’t dedicate myself to the practice of it.

“I have been around coaching from day one so I was probably that way inclined a little bit – as a young kid I was always telling my mates how to play, rather than learning how to play myself!”

Smith stressed: “I have a huge amount of respect for what the players put themselves through, it’s a fierce game.”

But he added “I feel it’s a strength that I have always been a coach, I haven’t had to adapt from being a player.

“It is a different perspective, I have been around the game all my life and just done it differently to most coaches.

“I was probably 16 or 17 when I thought career coaching might be my passion and at 21 I was fortunate to be in a full-time environment.

“Daniel gave me a crack then and I have chased it ever since, finding the best opportunity to develop and learn as a coach.”

After London, Smith worked on the staff at NRL clubs Sydney Roosters, Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers and Gold Coast Titans before following in his father’s footsteps to Bradford Bulls.

Following their liquidation, he returned to Australia to take charge of Norths Devils, Brisbane Broncos’ feeder club, guiding them to the Queensland Cup title last year.

“It is a quality competition and it’s different,” Smith said of Betfred Super League.

“It’s for the people more over here.

“There’s far more tribalism and more of a territorial nature around it.

“People live and breathe it more than they do at home.

“The NRL is a massive juggernaut of a business; Super League is a business also, but it is different – it means a lot to a lot more people over here, I reckon.

“I love it – that’s one of the appealing things of travelling to England, that fanatical nature of the fans.

“It is something we don’t experience at home, so I am privileged to see it up close.”

Smith arrived in England at the start of this month, two weeks after his appointment was announced.

He is no stranger to the area, having lived in Bramhope when his father coached Bradford in the 1990s.

Aside from rugby, much of his first two weeks at Rhinos has been spent meeting the people at his new club.

“I am big on getting to know people and the connections and relationships you build, so there’s a lot to take on in that regard, but it has been enjoyable, there is a good bunch of people throughout the club,” he said.

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for Smith, who was a few games into the Queensland Cup season when he agreed to join Leeds.

“I was fully invested every day,” he said of his previous career.

“I signed at Norths in August, 2017 and I spent four and a half years there, every day invested in that.

“To separate from that and then to step into something so big, it has been huge.

“My family are still at home and trying to pack up the house and all that kind of stuff; there has been a lot going on, but it is exciting at the same time as a bit turbulent.”