'Players still hurting': Grand Final defeat will fuel Leeds Rhinos' Super League push says coach Rohan Smith

Rhinos have finished fifth in Betfred Super League for the past three seasons and were beaten by St Helens in last September’s title decider.

A new-look side will take to the field at Warrington Wolves in round one on Thursday, after a pre-season when Rhinos won only once in four warm-up matches, but Smith insisted: “We expect good things and we believe in our roster as a staff and a playing group.”

Last year’s run to Old Trafford has raised hopes of a title challenge in 2023, however the coach stressed Rhinos are going into the new campaign with a clean slate.

“We feel like we can challenge and compete against the best teams if we play our best footy,” Smith said.

“We want to be playing in the big games. Learnings will be taken from last year by different people.

“I think our best team this year would be a lot different from the one that played on Grand Final day, but the players who are still here will still be hurting and using that to fuel their season ahead.

“We will take some confidence out of what we did last year, but for me it is about starting again.”

Rhinos rallied following Smith’s arrival midway through last year, winning 13 of their final 19 matches after making the worst start to a season in the club’s history.

That means the coach won’t be getting carried away, whatever the result in round one. He vowed: “Clearly we want to start well.

“We want to play well at Warrington and we want to win, but then it’ll be a matter of starting again the week after and the week after that.

“It will be one week at a time. If we start well the challenge is to play well again the week after and to play enough good footy through the year to get us into a position to play the big games later on.”