YEP Jury: Leeds Rhinos coach Rohan Smith will face toughest test so far at Warrington Wolves

TOM RHODES

It was another quiet weekend for the Rhinos with the Challenge Cup being on. Such a shame that the better team lost on the day with Huddersfield being beaten by Wigan.

Questions need to be asked of James Child as to why on two occasions Morgan Smithies wasn’t sin-binned after high tackles. If James Bentley had made any of those challenges in a Super League game we would have seen him sent off and then handed a three-match ban.

The RFL need to sort out what is a sin-bin offence and what isn’t as it’s starting to ruin our beautiful game.

Looking ahead to our fixture against Warrington, I’m feeling like this is another one of those must-win games.

They haven’t been playing their best recently, Warrington, under Daryl Powell, which is very similar to us you could say.

We need to carry on from where we left off against Wakefield and work on our attack, as that’s what’s letting us down every time we’re 10 metres away from the opposition’s try line.

It’s definitely time for revenge after our narrow loss against them earlier in the season.

OLIVER LIMON

Leeds have had an extra week to build on the Wakefield victory in preparation for Warrington who have had a myriad of problems themselves and are our near neighbours in the table.

This should be an intense battle and a chance to test our progression under Smith.

Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants produced a classic Challenge Cup final with the result in doubt right up until the final minutes.

It was an absorbing contest, Huddersfield can count themselves unlucky to lose out, the four missed kicks at goal ultimately cost them the Cup.

Despite concerns about the size of the crowd, over 51,000 was a good effort and there were some excellent reviews of Tottenham’s stadium. Food for thought for the RFL.

In Super League there has been plenty of transfer talk with Brad Dwyer, Jack Broadbent and Alex Mellor linked with other clubs.

I realise Rohan Smith needs time to assess his squad, however the quality of players like Rhyse Martin and Jarrod O’Connor are obvious and need to be retained sooner rather than later.

I hope we have our own targets lined up and they spend more time on the field than our most recent recruits.

JOSH MORROW

How good is Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium!

I was lucky enough to watch the NFL there last year. For me it’s a perfect venue for the Challenge Cup final.

It looks so much better having 50,000 in a 62,000 seater stadium rather than in a 90,000 one.

Watching the game, it baffled me how Morgan Smithies didn’t get a red card for his second high tackle.

It was direct contact to the head with force, never mind the first swinging arm which was a yellow card itself.

The RFL needs to decide just how serious they are going to take head injuries, you cannot just decide because it’s a big game you just let them slide.

The second of his tackles was worse than James Bentley’s latest and that got him a sin-binnning and a three-game ban.

Travelling to Warrington Wolves is always a big game for Leeds and Rhinos owe them one after the opening game of the season.

A win would see us go above Warrington and pile yet more pressure on head coach Daryl Powell.

KHYA GOTT

Another weekend of watching a big game wishing the Rhinos were involved. It looked like a great day on Saturday in London at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium anyway.

However, we need to focus on the here and now with the Rhinos and continue to build a team under Rohan Smith that can work well together and eventually, come back and challenge in these competitions.

With six games away from home on the bounce now, it isn’t going to be easy for us. But we need to work hard, both on and off the pitch, to get the points and push ourselves up the table.

We travel to Warrington this weekend. In the opening game of the campaign, we didn’t do so bad against the Wolves, but crumbled in the final stages of the game.

By their standards, they aren’t having the best of seasons themselves, with five wins from 13. A win this weekend would put us above the hosts, so a win is vital in Cheshire on Friday evening.

It’s going to be a long couple of months away from Headingley!

KENDLE HARDISTY

It was A weekend to forget in the capital for all Huddersfield fans that love both rugger and footy.

I imagine the Challenge Cup result may have hurt more as Giants were by far the better team on the day.

I wanted them to get the result for Yorkshire, but it wasn’t to be. Credit to Wigan, they kept going to the end, and the kick by Harry Smith to set up Liam Marshall at the end was special.

Missing out on Jai Field as well could be one of our biggest mistakes – he is some player.

Tottenham’s ground looked unreal on the telly so I can only imagine what the atmosphere was like in the ground.

I was very jealous watching the game.

It’s Warrington away for the Rhinos on Friday. In my opinion, it’s Rohan Smith’s biggest test since taking over.

I’m not expecting us to go there and batter Warrington, but I am expecting the performance we put in against Wakefield.

So far this season, we have been so inconsistent and putting in solid performances each week is what we want to see.

IAIN SHARP

I’m just back from Saturday’s Challenge Cup Final at Spurs which is still a great weekend away, even the for neutral.

Huddersfield paid the ultimate price for not having a reliable goal-kicker on the day.

Friday sees Leeds return to action at Warrington and I have a feeling the team is finally starting to gel, with the number of

injuries in the squad reducing and players finally becoming fit and available again. We should ‘push’ Warrington if we play to

form.

You may not think there’s a direct connection between Rugby League and climate change, but last week, Leeds launched

their fourth shirt this season (averaging one a month). I’m not knocking the awareness purposes or altruistic reasons behind

it, but clothing manufacture is one of the greatest producers of carbon emissions, churning out more than the maritime and

aviation industries combined.

I’m no ‘tree hugger’ but I appreciate the science behind climate change and the potential catastrophes that could lie ahead for

all of us if changes aren’t made. The production of an unnecessary number of shirts each season, some used

only once and from man-made materials, might be a place where we could make one of those ‘small changes’ to help protect all

our tomorrows …